Pakistan is taking part as observer in the two-day sixth annual meeting of Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) pertaining to Transport Corridor for Europe-Caucasus-Asia (Traceca) will be started from Wednesday (tomorrow) in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan's Transport and Communication Minister S. Akhmetov had invited Communication Minister Habib-ur-Rehman to participate in the meeting to be held on December 12-13, sources told Business Recorder here on Monday. Pre-occupied with other important official commitments, the minister desired Communication Secretary Sajid Hussain Chattha to attend the meeting, who left for Kazakhstan on Monday, sources said.
They said the participation of the communication secretary would provide an opportunity to interact with member-states and consider possibility of Pakistan's joining as a full member of IGC, Traceca (New Silk Route).
"Pakistan would be able to contribute towards promotion and development of trade and transport links through silk route with Central Asian states and Europe with full membership", they added. Sources said the Traceca Inter-governmental Commission and the Permanent Secretariat were established in pursuance of Basic Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for Development of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia Corridor.
The basic agreement was signed by 12 countries on September 8, 1998 at Baku, Azerbaijan. Pakistan as a candidate for joining the Basic MLA attended the 4th annual meeting of IGC held on April 21-22, 2005 in Baku, which was welcomed by the member states, they added.
Sources said Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan belong to the EU Tacis Traceca Interstate-Programme and are Parties (member states) to the MLA. They said the annual meeting of IGC, Traceca is held every year and is considered as an important event in the development of inter-regional transport corridors.
This year, the IGC, TRACECA will take up and summarise the outcomes of the previous activities on the development of the Traceca transport corridor as well as the action plan for next year.
The conference, to be held at the threshold of the Anniversary Summit of the Heads of the governments of the Traceca member-states (2008), will discuss a number of issues aimed at promoting effective functioning of the Traceca corridor.
The implementation of the strategy of the IGC Traceca for development of the international transport corridor (Europe-the Caucasus-Asia) for the period up to 2015 will also come under discussion.
The meeting is expected to adopt the decisions on amendments to the Basic MLA on International Transport for Development of the Corridor in respect of the preferential transport tariffs between the MLA member-states and other countries, and to the Technical Annex on Customs and Documentation Procedures. A number of proposed amendments and additions is related to further participation of Bulgaria and Romania in view of their accession to the EU.
For the purpose of approximation of legislation of the MLA member-countries and development of the freight forwarding activity in the Traceca region, the Model National Law on Freight Forwarding Activity will be submitted for IGC discussion. The draft agreement on the Development of Multimodal Transport in the Traceca region, which will also be discussed.
Moreover, development of public-private partnership, which will require establishment of the new structures within Traceca, such as Business Advisory Council and Traceca Investment Fund, will open new horizons in creation of the sustainable system of multi-modal transport in the Traceca region. The aforesaid is also subject to discussion in the meeting.
The conference will adopt the Action Plan for 2008-09 on implementation of the Traceca strategy for the period up to 2015, as well as the ENPI Regional Action Programme.
For the purpose of enhancement of co-operation and re-inforcing the dialogue between the MLA member-states and the European Commission, also within the scope of the EC activity on the extension of the Trans-European Transport Networks to the neighbouring countries, the meeting will discuss the issues related to extension of the Trans-European Transport Networks to the neighbouring countries. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Permanent Secretariat (PS) IGC Traceca and the Permanent International Secretariat of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation (BSEC) will also be signed.
With the view of further improving the activity of the Permanent Secretariat of the IGC Traceca a number of issues of organisational and procedural character will be discussed during the meeting. The conference will be attended by the representatives of the EC, international organisations and financial institutions. On conclusion, the meeting will adopt the Astana Declaration.
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