BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 6. Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia (TRACECA) is working on the practical implementation of the documents adopted at the meeting of the intergovernmental commission on October 21, 2021, Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the IGC TRACECA Asset Asavbayev told Trend.
According to him, documents that define the concept of future actions of the TRACECA member countries were adopted at this meeting.
“For example, we are preparing terms of reference for the creation of a TRACECA digital ecosystem as part of the digitalization concept. The level of digitalization in TRACECA countries is different and the direction of digitalization is also different,” he said.
Priority is given to one mode of transport in some countries, while in another country a priority is given to a different mode transport and accordingly, speaking of international transportation, if a neighboring country does not carry out similar work, then we will need additional time or costs and it will be very difficult to get an immediate effect from digitalization, Asavbayev noted.
According to the Secretary General, it is planned to create a single platform that would unite all interested TRACECA member countries, carriers, regulatory and other authorities involved in the transportation process.
"This system involves the creation of appropriate applications for drivers so that they can work online along the entire route. We want to increase the level of service, service provision and competitiveness of our corridor through digitalization," he added.
"We understand that our corridor is very difficult due to the fact that people pass through it borders of a number of countries. The issue of creating this digital ecosystem is precisely aimed at facilitating border crossing along the entire route along the Europe-Caucasus-Asia route," Asavbayev said.
Countries need to integrate or use a universal single platform in order for digital documents to be recognized, through which they can exchange data," Asavbayev noted.
He also said it is necessary to increase the number of plying ships and focus on containerization.
"Problems with containers must be solved. Our containerization concept is aimed at solving these problems in a systematic and coordinated way. We plan to present the concept of a vessel that should be operated in the Caspian Sea at lower tariffs," he said.
"Today the ferry service has been established between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, also between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Ferry transportation should be cheaper and more competitive and for this we are conducting serious studies in the context of TRACECA (Azerbaijan - Kazakhstan)," he noted.
“We intend to present the concept of a vessel that should be operated in the Caspian Sea, have a large capacity and carry out transportation at lower rates," TRACECA Secretary General said.