In response to the Governing Council of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), UNECE is enhancing the capabilities of experts in the participating States to utilize the semantic standards and reference data models of the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) for the digitalization of data and document exchange along the Trans-Caspian trade and transport corridor.
The adoption of the Roadmap for Digitalization of Multimodal Data and Document Exchange along the Trans-Caspian Corridor by the SPECA Heads of State in November 2023 provided a strong political push for the process. However, the successful implementation of this roadmap requires a significant capacity-building component.
To address this, UNECE, in partnership with the German agency for international cooperation GIZ and the Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Central Asia (TRACECA), organized a seminar on 11-12 June to promote understanding and implementation of UN/CEFACT standards among experts from the SPECA and Trans-Caspian corridor countries.
The seminar, held in the port city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, focused on several objectives. Firstly, it highlighted the potential efficiency gains from digitalization of cargo information flows along the corridor. Secondly, it identified necessary actions to be taken by countries and stakeholders to digitalize multimodal data and document exchange along the corridor, including addressing issues of project fragmentation, national and modal legal regimes, and different syntaxes.
The seminar also presented the results of a pilot project, led by TRACECA, on the digitalization of the CIM/SMGS railway consignment note. Experts shared their experiences in developing a prototype of the electronic CIM/SMGS and its testing, which can serve as a best practice for similar projects in other areas.
The seminar also discussed the integration of electronic document exchange with the IT systems of national railways in five countries along the corridor: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, and Ukraine. This project, along with other pilot projects in different modes of transport, aims to achieve multimodal interoperability, with a specific focus on data and document exchange between Caspian ports using UN/CEFACT standards.
Participants also engaged in discussions on the establishment of electronic platforms to support multimodal interoperability and create a market for digitalization services. One session focused on the role of Port Community Information Services as hubs for multimodal electronic data exchange.
The participants requested the development of guidelines for the use of UN/CEFACT standards in future digitalization projects in cross-border supply chains. They were also informed about the new Convention on the Contract of International Carriage of Goods by Rail.
These capacity-building efforts by UNECE are timely and complement the ongoing initiatives of other development partners, including the European Union, to improve sustainable transport connectivity in Central Asia.
Note to editors
The United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was established in 1998 to strengthen subregional cooperation and integration into the world economy. The participating States are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. UNECE and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) provide support and coordination to the programme on a rotating annual basis. Learn more here.