BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 16. Turkmenistan is a large multimodal transit hub, Director of TIR and Transit Services of the International Union of Road Transport (IRU) Tatiana Rey-Bellet told Trend.
She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation in Ukraine have strongly impacted transport links, trade and the economy in the world, thereby causing serious disruptions in supply chains and logistics flows.
"With many traditional routes being under pressure, we have observed a huge increase of freight and vehicle flows along evolving routes. The strategic location of Turkmenistan is extremely important in this regard as it connects East and West as well as North and South," the representative of the organization said.
According to her, in particular, the Turkmen Turkmenbashi International Seaport has a huge potential.
"IRU is working closely with relevant ministries and agencies of Turkmenistan, including on advisory projects with development partners, to help the country unleash its transit potential and expedite intra- and inter-regional trade, and growing transit flows require simplification of transit procedures," the director of the organization's department said.
Meanwhile, the IRU supported the Turkmen Association of International Road Carriers (THADA) in promoting digital invoices for the customs sphere of Turkmenistan. As a result of this support, Turkmenistan joined the e-CMR protocol (digital version of the CMR consignment note) in December 2022.