Digital Route seminar held in Aktau port including OSCE participation

Aktau with a focus on the exchange of documents between various stakeholders. The workshop was attended by port management, as well as the heads of structural units of the port of Aktau. With an aim to digitize the “Middle Corridor” and to facilitate exchange of digital information for trade operations, Baku port initiated a project titled “Digital Route”, a universal web platform with functional capability to offer integrated e-service for various trade, transport and logistics services under concept of single window. The project aims to position Baku, Azerbaijan, as the ideal base for trading across borders. It also aims strengthening Middle Corridor’s position against other alternative regional transport corridors as the ideal digitized route for transit and trading, and facilitation of transaction processes between private sector, transport companies and government agencies. Among stakeholders that will benefit from creation of this platform are freight forwarders and clearing agencies, exporters and importers, shipping lines and agents, transport companies, sea port operators, insurance companies, custom authorities, etc. The uniqueness of the project is that not only Azerbaijan, but also all countries along the Middle Corridor – Turkey, Georgia Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, also other Central Asian Republics like Afghanistan, Pakistan will benefit from digitization of the route. The Middle Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), combines the countries participating in the new Silk Road project and important players of the region. Its members are leading maritime and transport companies from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, China and Turkey. The organisation aims to popularise the middle corridor, accelerate and simplify cargo transportation procedures between Asia and Europe, and make special preferential tariffs. Between East and West, in terms of cargo, the middle corridor helps to compete with the north-south routes. TITR allows European companies to bypass Russia, which until now sanctions the transit of certain types of goods through the country. A number of Russian entities are under sanctions from the international community following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014. The importance of this route was underlined with the inclusion of Georgia and Azerbaijan in the European Union (EU) TEN-T network. Copyright (C) PortSEurope. All Rights Reserved. 2019.