BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 6. Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran have introduced best practices regarding the use of electronic Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) during the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the IGC TRACECA Asset Asavbayev told Trend in an interview.
According to him, the pandemic has shown that it is necessary to accelerate the issue of digitalization by creating one or another digital platform and ensuring the passage of documents electronically.
"No country has yet tested the use of electronic TIR. Our TRACECA countries (Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran) have shown that this tool is applicable and should be used in transportation. Today Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan have already joined this document,” Asavbayev said.
The Permanent Secretariat during the pandemic focused on the adoption of conceptual and systemic documents that would regulate and coordinate our work in the future, the Secretary General said.
The intergovernmental commissions adopted concepts on digitalization and containerization and a document on recommendations regarding border crossing issues, he also noted.
"We were able to group together by adopting an action plan from 2022 through 2026, where we systematized all the measures that we will take for all types of transportation. Of course, the activity and involvement of countries is the main principle in adopting documents. Compliance by countries with these recommendations, and implementation events, is a fundamental part of our work," Asavbayev added.