ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 15. Turkmenistan and the International Trade Center (ITC) discussed the digitalization of customs procedures, Trend reports.
Citing an official source, this problem was viewed during a
meeting between Turkmen State Customs Service members and an ITC
delegates led by Elena Boutrimova, Chief of ITC's Office for
Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
During the discussion, the parties discussed the Ready4Trade
Central Asia initiative, under which the ITC is aiding Turkmenistan
in developing an information site on trade facilitation with the
participation of the country's State Customs Service.
The new ITC 'Trade Sustainability and Integration' project, which
aims to involve small and medium-sized Turkmen enterprises in
international trade, was also examined.
At the same time, the parties agreed that one of the components
of the new project 'Improving the ecosystem to stimulate investment
and e-commerce development' will be launched in June 2024, with the
goal of assisting with the digitization of customs operations.
The ITC delegation was informed about Turkmen customs agencies'
efforts towards digital transformation.
As part of this, the Turkmen side stated that in December 2023, the
'Single Window for Export-Import Operations' project was launched
in a test mode, the TIR-EPD system is operational, and information
sharing with customs administrations in other countries is
developing.
Meanwhile, at the end of October last year, the International
Trade Center (ITC) and the EU signed a six-million-euro agreement
to help Turkmenistan's government join the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and the multilateral trade system.
The agreement was signed by EC. Myriam Ferran, Deputy Director
General for International Partnerships, and Pamela Coke-Hamilton,
ITC's Executive Director.