Agreements were signed today by and between Georgia and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) envisaging the modernization of metropolitan transport in Tbilisi.
Loan and Grant Agreements were signed by H.E. Lasha Khutsishvili, Minister of Finance of Georgia and Mark Bowman, EBRD Vice President for Policy and Partnerships during his working visit to Georgia held within the scope of a Caucasus Tour.
Financial resources in the volume of around 55.6 million Euros will be used for the rehabilitation of underground metropolitan stations in Tbilisi and refurbishment of escalators.
Project will be implemented by the Mayor’s Office in the Municipality of Tbilisi through Tbilisi Transport Company (TTC).
Mark Bowman, EBRD Vice President for Policy and Partnerships is visiting Georgia together with Matteo Patrone, EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus (EEC).
This visit was preceded by a series of meetings held by H.E. Odile Renaud-Basso, EBRD President in Tbilisi in September 2022.
The current visit aims to review the upcoming projects of EBRD to be implemented both in the private and public sectors of the country.

China is ready to help Turkmenistan in the creation of transport infrastructure, according to the Joint Statement of Turkmenistan and the People's Republic of China. The document was signed by President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and PRC President Xi Jinping following the talks in Beijing.

In the document, the Parties note that infrastructure connectivity is a new growth point in the comprehensive strategic partnership between Turkmenistan and China. In this regard, the need to accelerate the coordination of the draft «Agreements between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the PRC on international road transport» was emphasized, the need to promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of connecting roads and cross-border transport, increasing the number of flights and the volume of transportation of railway container trains China- Kyrgyzstan-Turkmenistan - Iran and international multimodal transport China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan, continued contacts and interaction within the framework of CAREC, OSJD and other multilateral mechanisms.

«The Chinese side expresses its readiness to assist Turkmenistan in accelerating the construction of transport infrastructure and creating a modern transport and logistics system», the Joint Statement of Turkmenistan and China says.

The tasks facing the country's transport and communication complex in connection with the decisions on the "Ashgabat process" announced last week in Avaza were discussed on Tuesday at a general meeting of the Agency for Transport and Communications (ATaC) under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.
The management of the complex and its divisions, logistics companies considered in a practical plane the agreements of the ministers of transport of landlocked developing countries, the results and documents of bilateral meetings, and other events held on the sidelines of the Avaza forum.

The key starting positions and the main vectors of movement towards the expansion of the system of international transport corridors were outlined in his speech by Deputy Prime Minister Mammetkhan Chakyev, who heads ATaC.

One of the fundamental tasks of this block is to link individual ideas, projects, and components of modernization into a coherent and efficient system of multimodal transportation and transit. This area includes the resumption of uninterrupted cross-border operations, and the replacement of paper documents with digital ones, and the simplification of registration procedures, etc.

These issues were highlighted in their profile aspect by the Chairman of the "Turkmenaragatnashyk" ("Turkmencommunication") Agency Hajimurat Hudaygulyev.

This topic, but on the material of their subordinate structures, was continued by: head of the railway department Azat Atamyradov, General Director of JSC "Transport and Logistics Center of Turkmenistan" Baymyrat Atayev, head of "Turkmenautotransport" Guvanchmyrat Akmammedov, deputy chairman of the "Turkmen Logistics" Association Rustam Seyidov, head of "Turkmen Airlines" Dovran Saburov, Chairman of the Turkmen Association of International Automobile Carriers Bekmyrat Eyeberdyev, Director of the Agency of Sea and River Routes Annadurdy Kosaev and others.

The speakers noted that the specifics and approaches of the integrated development of transport in Turkmenistan are primarily due to its favorable geographical location. The country is actively involved in the system of world economic relations, in regional and continental transport corridors, developing its own infrastructure, which should increase the efficiency of export-import and transit traffic in communications with the countries of Europe, South Asia, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East.

The implementation of the planned program will ensure the sustainable development of the economy of Turkmenistan, will contribute to the strengthening of foreign economic relations in the "North-South" and "East-West" directions, will create conditions for the export of products to the largest world markets.

The global business community and financial structures, as well as domestic business, are increasingly considering transport as a sphere of long-term investments.

The diversification of Turkmenistan's economic contacts has increased the demand not only for foreign trade and transit, but also for transport services in the domestic and regional markets. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that demand in this segment will grow at a faster pace.

The meeting was attended by the head of the representative office of the transport and logistics holding "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" in Turkmenistan, Chingiz Kakenov.

A representative of the largest operator of the main railway in Kazakhstan shared his opinion about the transport forum held in Avaza and new prospects with ORIENT.

The launch ceremony of the pilot project of the Global Transit Document took place on August 17, 2022 at the Berkarar Hotel of the Avaza National Tourist Zone.

The Global Transit Document (GTrD), which is a universal digital solution for the development of multimodal transportation, is the result of fruitful cooperation between the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission of the International Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) with the International Center for Transport Diplomacy, the Intergovernmental Council of Road Workers of the CIS, and the world's largest developers of IT technologies, as well as with countries that have shown interest in piloting the GTrD.

The launch ceremony of the pilot project of the Global Transit Document was attended by the Executive Secretary of the International Center for Transport Diplomacy I.Runov, the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Council of Road Workers of the Commonwealth of Independent States B.Karimov, as well as representatives of the countries of the region - Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The speakers emphasized that at the turn of the third decade of the 21st century, economic realities and trends in the development of the world economy created an obvious need for the development and implementation of a unified Global Transit Document in order to optimize the management of the transport process along multimodal corridors connecting states of different regions and continents.

The introduction of a digital platform of the global transit network based on the latest technologies using the Global Transit Document will make it possible to extend the customs guarantee and insurance regime, as well as ensure the traceability of goods and vehicles along the entire route from the starting point to the destination.

At the end of the official launch ceremony of the pilot project of the Global Transit Document, its participants adopted a Joint Statement, in which they confirmed the readiness of the parties for further cooperation in promoting the proposal to create a global digital transit network at various levels, as well as within the United Nations.

Transport connectivity is critical to the future of our countries, in particular to reduce the cost of trade and improve access to global markets, promote the integration of economies and people, and achieve the SDGs.

This was stated by UN Secretary General António Guterres in his address to the participants of the Ministerial Transport Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries “Ashgabat Process: Funding for Better Connectivity”.

– For various reasons, today there are great obstacles to improving the transport interconnection of landlocked countries-Guterres said. The large number of border crossings, complex transport and border procedures, and restrictions imposed by the pandemic have resulted in costs and delays.

– We must work together to return transport to its previous path of development,” the UN Secretary General said. – For landlocked countries, this need can be addressed through a roadmap that describes the activities and the cost-effectiveness of the activities.

Guterres called on the participating countries of the Avaza conference to use innovation and technology to achieve the set goals, as well as join forces to ensure sustainable transport and real interconnection of landlocked countries.

On 11 April, the European Commission included 21 airlines certified in Russia to the EU Air Safety List.  

The EU Air Safety List is the list of airlines that are subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union, because they do not meet international safety standards.

According to the Commission, this decision reflects the EU’s serious safety concerns due to Russia’s forced re-registration of foreign-owned aircraft, knowingly allowing their operation without valid certificates of airworthiness. “This is in breach of international aviation safety standards,” says a press release by the Commission.  

“This is not only a clear breach of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention), but it also poses an immediate safety threat,” Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said.

She added that despite the context of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, this decision is not another sanction against Russia: “It has been taken solely on the basis of technical and safety grounds. We do not mix safety with politics.”

Following the update, a total of 117 airlines are banned from EU skies.

On 27 February, the EU shut down EU airspace for all Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft are no longer able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU.

EU cooperation with its Eastern partners

During his speech at the 15th ECO Summit, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov also touched upon energy issues, highlighted the importance of expanding the transport and communication sphere.

“Among the priority directions of the ECO, Turkmenistan sees the development of cooperation in the transport and energy spheres,” the Head of state noted. He stressed that at present, these segments of the partnership objectively act as a defining trend in global economic growth.

In this context, the President of Turkmenistan voiced the need to consolidate joint efforts in this direction and gave examples of the phased implementation of the construction of power transmission lines along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan route, railways from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, as well as the advancement of the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

It was noted that Turkmenistan pays special attention to the activation of transport and transit communication along the East-West and South-North lines. In particular, this is about the creation of transport corridors Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan - Iran - Oman, as well as Afghanistan - Turkmenistan - Azerbaijan - Georgia - Turkey.

In this regard, the President of Turkmenistan proposed to study the use of logistics and infrastructure facilities in Turkmenistan itself in order to activate transport and transit communication between the regions of the Caspian basin and the Black Sea with access to the countries of Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.

The President of Turkmenistan noted the importance of Afghanistan's participation in these processes, which thus becomes an active subject, a valuable and integral participant in economic partnership. “We see this as a strategic prospect for Afghanistan, its role in regional and global processes, the most important condition for achieving peace, harmony and development on Afghan soil,” added the Head of Turkmenistan.

On July 8, 2020, negotiations between the heads of the transport departments of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Turkey took place in a video conference format.

The Turkmen side was represented by Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan B. Ovezov, heads of the agencies “Türkmendemirýollary”, “Türkmenawtoulaglary”, “Türkmenhowaýollary”, “Türkmendeňizderýaýollary”.

The Turkish side was headed by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey, A. Karaismailoglu. The Deputies of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey O. Fatih Sayan and S. Dursun, heads of various transport departments of Turkey also attended the negotiations.

During the meeting, the parties emphasized the importance of developing cooperation in the transport sector of the two countries, in particular, the effective use of transport corridors and air routes to improve trade relations. New aspects of bilateral cooperation in the field of cargo transportation were discussed.

Based on the initiatives of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to establish effective cooperation in the transport sector, put forward on July 2 this year during a trilateral meeting, the Turkmen side drew the attention of the participants to the country's progress in the transport sector and logistics capabilities, as well as possible for implementation joint projects in this direction.

The parties also focused on the role of logistics companies in the development of transport corridors. Separately, issues of a joint project - an international transit transport corridor along the route Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey (Lapis Lazuli) were considered. The role of such projects in strengthening regional and international trade and economic relations and universal sustainable development was noted.

On April 16, 2020, a video conference was held between the representatives of the “Türkmendemirýollary” agency, open joint-stock company “Demiryollary” and the Railway Authority of the Ministry of Transport of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The Turkmen side was headed by the Chairman of the “Türkmendemirýollary” agency A.Atamyradov. The Afghan side was led by the General Director of the Railway Authority of Afghanistan Mohammad Yamma Shams.  

During the meeting, issues related to the construction of the Akina-Andkhoy railway line, the work carried out under the project for the construction of the Turgundi-Herat railway were discussed.

The participants also exchanged views on optimizing transit freight traffic and wagons passing through the IRA, further developing of the transport corridor between the Lapis Lazuli agreement participating countries.  Separately, issues of obtaining visas for railway workers and other issues were considered.

On April 9, 2020, a telecast was held at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, teachers and students of the Institute of International Relations, as well as leaders and representatives of the Turkmen Logistics Association, government agencies “Türkmendemirýollary”, “Türkmenawtoulaglary”, Türkmenhowaýollary, Türkmendeňizderýaýollary”.

From the Georgian side the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia A. Sagirashvili took part via video link, as well as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Turkmenistan M. Murdzhikneli participated to the meeting.

According to the participants of this event, the transport sector is one of the key vectors of bilateral cooperation between Turkmenistan and Georgia. This interaction is based on the coincidence of the positions of the parties on the creation of transport and transit corridors between Asia and Europe.

Also the parties discussed the existing and planned transport corridors, the possibilities of delivering goods to European ports, the work done to date and the prospects for cooperation between Turkmenistan and Georgia.