Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan adopted the Laws “On joining the customs convention on containers” and “On joining the Convention on Customs Treatment of Pool Containers used in International Transport”
Turkmenistan, locating in an economically advantageous geographical position at the junction of Europe and Asia, which opens up huge opportunities in the field of transit traffic and logistics services, considers the development of foreign economic relations and participation in integration processes between countries as a key factor for economic progress. In this regard, Turkmenistan, as one of the SPECA member countries, attaches great importance to joining the regulatory and legal framework of international cargo transportation and using various digital systems and tools in order to simplify trade procedures.
At the 24th session of the SPECA working group on sustainable transport, transit and connectivity which took place on November the 19th, 2019 in Ashgabat under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan in the United Nations Special Program for the economies of Central Asia (SPECA) as for 2019 year the issues related to joining and practical implementation of international conventions and agreements have been discussed. The session participants of the Working group confirmed the importance of legal documents in the field of transport under the United Nations Organization transport legal instruments and noted the need for SPECA member countries to intensify their efforts to ratify the conventions in the nearest future.
It is worth to remark that, a number of amendments to national legislation have been adopted in Turkmenistan, in recent years, in particular, to the Customs Code of Turkmenistan, thanks to which the number of container shipments has been increased. Those containers which belong to Turkmen owners begin to be actively used for transportation along the routes Turkmenistan – China – Turkmenistan, as well as Turkmenistan – Turkey – Turkmenistan. Joining the Customs convention on containers and the Convention on Customs Treatment of Pool Containers used in International Transport shall expand the opportunities for involving Turkmen containers in international container transportation and will also promote the increase of foreign containers participating for transit traffic using the capabilities of the Turkmenbashi International Seaport and future “dry ports” on the territory of Turkmenistan. Foreign containers will expand the ability to consider the export of Turkmen products using international container lines. These conventions shall significantly simplify the conditions for the turnover of both Turkmen and foreign containers by the way of exchanging them.
