Joint Meeting of the Transport Sector Coordinating Committee and Trade Facilitation/Customs Cooperation Committee on CAREC

About 50 delegates attended the joint meeting of the Transport Sector Coordinating Committee (TSCC) and Trade Facilitation/Customs Cooperation Committee to finalize the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy Report. The final draft will be circulated at the CAREC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) and Ministerial Conference in September and November 2008, respectively.

Regarding the draft Implementation Action Plan, participants agreed to provide further written comments to ADB by 30 June 2008 and the final Action Plan will be submitted at the SOM in September.

The proposed work program of the TSCC for 2009 received broad support. Transport representatives will consult their authorities if there is a need for transport ministers to meet. They further agreed that the proposal for such a meeting would be considered during the SOM.

Participants were from all the eight CAREC participating countries — Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — and multilateral and other development partners including the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia, and World Customs Organization.