Azerbaijan, Baku, March 5 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
The secretariat of the program for International Cooperation of the European Union in the field of transport TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) will coordinate the customs initiative of the Silk Road countries, TRACECA National Secretary from Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev told Trend on Monday.
He said this issue was discussed at a meeting of the national secretaries of TRACECA, which was held in Brussels on February 27.
The decision of TRACECA's coordination of customs initiative was made last year and included into one of the resolutions of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission.
Mustafayev said the customs initiative, along with 13 member countries of TRACECA, includes a number of other countries in Europe and Asia. When question of establishing a secretariat of customs initiatives arose, it was the Azerbaijani side that put forward the idea of implementing this process on the basis of TRACECA.
"This decision is important because customs procedures is part of passing through TRACECA countries", said Mustafayev.
TRACECA is an international transport cooperation program between the EU and its Partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. It has a permanent Secretariat in Baku, Azerbaijan. The cooperation framework covers the areas of maritime transport, aviation, road and rail, transport security and transport infrastructure.
Currently, TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Iran.