IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto has addressed the 15th annual meeting of TRACECA governments on measures that remain to be acted upon by governments.
Hosted by Bulgaria in Sofia and virtually, the meeting brought together transport ministers, deputy ministers and other senior leaders from the 13 governments of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA, Transport Corridors Europe-Caucasus-Asia. The European Commission, Greece and Lithuania also attended along with major international organisations.
Umberto de Pretto outlined key issues related to the ongoing impact of pandemic on road transport operators and the importance of supporting the sector to safeguard overall economic recovery, as well as ensuring essential road transport workers are given priority to receive COVID vaccinations.
Most particularly, he outlined the continued need for governments to coordinate COVID related measures for borders and to accelerate efforts to digitalise border processes, especially with eTIR, to keep trucks and goods moving and ease increasingly serious global supply chain issues.
TRACECA Secretary General Asset Assavbayev personally thanked Umberto de Pretto and IRU for its continued focus on borders to smooth trade flows, and especially in helping member countries implement digital TIR.
TRACECA member countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.