IRU detailed how harmonised tools and digitalisation can significantly enhance the efficiency, security and sustainability of trade at the Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum.
The 11th Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum (APTFF), a leading regional platform for sharing trade best practices and expertise, which this year took place in Uzbekistan’s ancient city of Samarkand at the heart of the Great Silk Road, brought together over 250 delegates from 30 countries and 10 international organisations.
IRU’s General Delegate to Eurasia, Vadim Zakharenko, outlined key supply chain challenges and solutions at two side-events, “Enabling legal environment for digital transport and trade,” hosted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, and “Digital transformation of transport: key trends and synergetic effect,” hosted by the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Vadim Zakharenko unpacked how harmonised transit and transport digital UN instruments boost the efficiency, transparency and security of trade while also enhancing the sustainability and resilience of supply chains in times of crisis.
“Trade facilitation tools, such as TIR and CMR and their digital versions, were developed to streamline border operations by enhancing their security and transparency. They optimise transport and transit operations and mitigate bottlenecks. Issues that are of particular importance for all countries and economies, and even more so for landlocked countries such as double landlocked Uzbekistan which has become the number one user of TIR globally,” said Vadim Zakharenko.
While several Central Asian landlocked countries are spearheading the digitalisation of trade and transport processes at the national level and for business-to-business and government-to-government information exchanges, the digitalisation of cross-border operations and business-to-government data sharing is trailing behind.
“In addition to the economic, social and environmental gains brought by digitalisation, digital data exchange elevates the benefits offered by paper-based documents. Digital trade tools retain all the advantages of the current system while optimising processes by removing paperwork and handling costs,” highlighted Vadim Zakharenko.
“Public-private partnerships are needed to accelerate the transition to digital trade and transport operations,” he added.
Among the recent regional initiatives advancing digitalisation is the “Roadmap for the Digitalisation of Multimodal Data and Document Exchange Along the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, Using United Nations Legal instrument and Standards” adopted at the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia Summit in Azerbaijan in November 2023.
The roadmap sets ambitious targets for a five-year period and encourages government authorities and economic operators to start implementing eTIR based on the UN Trade Facilitation and E-business international supply chain electronic data exchange standards.
The Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific have been organising APTFF since 2009.
