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The document outlines a project aimed at enhancing connectivity for landlocked and least developed countries in South and Central Asia, focusing on improving transport and trade networks. It discusses the project's objectives, existing infrastructure challenges, and the importance of transport corridors for economic growth. The report also highlights the need for capacity-building workshops and collaboration among stakeholders to address both physical and non-physical barriers to trade.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
26 views

UN_project_Deliverable_1_presentation_20171013

The document outlines a project aimed at enhancing connectivity for landlocked and least developed countries in South and Central Asia, focusing on improving transport and trade networks. It discusses the project's objectives, existing infrastructure challenges, and the importance of transport corridors for economic growth. The report also highlights the need for capacity-building workshops and collaboration among stakeholders to address both physical and non-physical barriers to trade.

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ravilisgandarov
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You are on page 1/ 43

Strengthening connectivity of countries in South and Central Asia, particularly

Landlocked and Least Developed Countries, to link with sub-regional and regional
transport and trade networks
(Capacity-building workshop, 13 October 2017)

Presentation of Report 1

Vasilis Zeimpekis, Ph.D.


Transport & Logistics Expert
UNECE External Consultant
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

2
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

3
Project scope and objectives

 Project scope
The project seeks to contribute to the capacities of the stakeholders in the countries of South and Central Asia, especially in
the landlocked and least developed countries (LLDCs and LDCs) to strengthen their links with the sub regional and regional
transport and trade networks.

 Objectives / expected accomplishment


– Aim 1: Enhanced awareness of the government officials, regional groupings and financial institutions about the
possible connectivity options and their economic and social benefits including existing interregional trade
opportunities

– Aim 2: Increased skills of government officials, regional groupings and financial institutions to develop and implement
measures, including coordination in policies and plans that incorporate gender dimensions, to enhance connectivity in
the region through application of standards and best practices for trade and transport facilitation at the border
crossings and along the main economic corridors identified

 Beneficiary countries
– South and South-West Asia: Afghanistan*,Bangladesh*, Bhutan*, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Nepal*, Pakistan, Turkey
– Central Asia: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
Notes
• Bold: Landlocked Developing Country (LLDC)
• * Least Developed Country (LDC)

 Executing Entity: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
 Co-operating agency: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

4
Aim 1 specific objective (Report 1)

 Identify key potential road and rail corridors along AH and TAR networks and EATL corridors in the South and
Central Asian sub regions

 Focus on the connectivity issues of the LDCs and LLDCs of the sub-region

 Estimate costs of trade due to network (physical and nonphysical) bottlenecks

 Evaluate potential benefits especially for LDCs and LLDCs using qualitative and quantitative economic models in
such areas

5
Capacity-building workshop objectives

 Presentation and discussion of the project


 Presentation and discussion of the revised deliverable (Report 1)
 Exchange of proposals and ideas concerning transport operation challenges in Central Asia
 Feedback on the project findings

6
Methodology

 Desktop research: A significant number of reports, deliverables, primary data, and papers, have been taken into
consideration for the completion of this deliverable. A list of all references is available at the end of this report

 Preparation of templates in order to collect all relevant data/information needed

 Input and feedback from interested countries’ representatives

 Organization of one Group of experts with representatives from all beneficiary countries

 Organization of one sub-regional capacity-building workshop involving active participation with key stakeholders and
multilateral and regional financial institutions

7
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

8
Euro-Asia trade analysis

 It is worth mentioning that Asia has the highest rate of growth for both exports (+4.4%) and import (4.0%) during the
2010-2015 (World Trade Organization, 2016).

9
Selected macroeconomic indicators of central Asian countries

 From 2000 to 2010, foreign trade activities in Central Asia (CA) were affected by numerous factors including
macroeconomic, trade and structural policies of the governments and international price developments.

 All CA countries demonstrated good economic growth


– Turkmenistan recorded a double-digit average annual GDP growth rate
– In Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan these growth rates exceeded 8%

 Domestic demand including demand for imported goods expanded substantially in all CA countries

Selected macroeconomic indicators of central Asian countries


Source: Mogilevskii, 2012

10
Central Asian traffic flows and trends for indicative countries (1/3)

Kyrgyzstan (exports)
 Τhe main export commodity of Kyrgyzstan is gold (40-45% of exports) which was directed to different countries
(Switzerland, Germany, United Arab Emirates, China)
 Other important export commodities include radioactive elements, electricity, agricultural products and foods
 Unlike other CA economies, exports of manufactured goods (machinery and equipment, clothing) constitute a
significant and growing share of exports (14% in 2010)

Exports of Kyrgyzstan
Source: Mogilevskii, 2012

11
Central Asian traffic flows and trends for indicative countries (2/3)

Turkmenistan (exports)
 Over the decade its exports more than tripled and imports quadrupled
 Turkmenistan, has a persistent positive balance of trade, which went as high as 20% GDP in 2008, but fell in 2009-
2010
 In the case of exports, the geography of imports changed significantly over the decade
 The key partners of Turkmenistan are Iran and Russia

Exports of Turkmenistan
Source: Mogilevskii, 2012

12
Central Asian traffic flows and trends for indicative countries (3/3)

Turkmenistan (imports)
 The commodity structure of imports did not change much except for the increase in the share of metals (Figure 18a).
This is most likely related to the extensive investment program implemented in the country, including the
construction of new pipelines
 Turkey has become the largest source of imports of Turkmenistan.
 China sharply increased its position on the Turkmen market, and Iran increased its share in total imports.
 Russia’s role as a supplier of goods to Turkmenistan fell substantially and Japan lost this market completely

Imports of Turkmenistan
Source: Mogilevskii, 2012

13
Dynamic of intra-regional trade

Dynamics of intra-regional trade


 Intra-regional trade turnover is rather small Source: Mogilevskii, 2012
in comparison to the total trade of CA
countries

 In 2010, all CA exports to other CA countries


made up just 5.9% of the total exports of the
countries of the region; this share for
imports was 6.6%

 The low level of aggregate trade integration


indicators is due to Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan, which account for more than
two-thirds of total trade turnover of the CA
countries and depend very little on trade
with other countries of the region

 While intra-regional trade is not very large


for each CA country, it is quite important for
certain segments of their trade. Trade in
energy products occupies half of intra -
regional trade and is important for many
countries in the region

14
Euro-Asia transportation challenges

 Taking into consideration the current status as well as the trend of Euro-Asian trade for the next years, it is vital a
sustainable transport system to be adopted in order to contribute to the social and economic development of rural
areas in developing countries (Carapetis, 1984)

 According to UNESCAP (2007), in order to minimize production cost and support social and economic development, we
have to take into consideration 3 factors (related to the role of transport):
• improved transport, lowers the operational cost of the producers and transforms them to more competitive units
• Reliability of transport services: The importance of continuity of input supply increases rapidly as the degree of industrial
sophistication increases
• The quality of infrastructure and support services has been identified as a significant determinant in investment decisions

 Creightley (1993) reports evidence that ‘transport improves access to institutional credit, contributes in shifting the
allocation of credit from non-productive to productive activities, and leads to increased demands for credit.

Social and
Quality economic
Reliability of Quality of development
improvement of
transport services infrastructure of rural areas in
transport services
developing
countries

15
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

16
Transport corridor: Definition

 A corridor includes one or more routes that connect centers of economic activity. These routes are composed of the
links over which the transport services travel and the nodes that interconnect the transport services

 An international transport corridor connects one or more adjoining countries. It may also connect countries that are
separated by one or more transit countries or provide a landlocked country with access to the sea

 They provide transport and other logistics services that promote trade among the cities and countries along the
corridor.

17
Transport corridor: Their contribution to economic growth

 The development of a transport corridors reduce the cost of goods throughout the supply chain, including
transportation cost, logistics cost, administrative and documentation cost, and customs
 Transport corridors contribute to security and territorial integrity

Contribution of Transport Corridors to Economic Growth,


Source: Islamic Development Bank, 2011

18
Transport corridors in Asia

Existing initiatives
UNECE /EATL project (9 road
routes, 9 rail routes)
SPECA NETWORK (United
Nations Special Program for
the Economies of Central
Asia) Road & Rail

UNESCAP TAR NETWORK


(Trans Asia Railway)
UNESCAP Asian Highway
Route (road network)
Transport Corridor Europe
Caucasus Asia (TRACECA)
CAREC PROGRAMME (Central
Asia Regional Cooperation)
EurAsec Transport Corridors

NELTI Corridors (IRU)


OSJD Rail Corridors
ECO Corridors

Transport Corridors in Asia, Source: (Islamic Development Bank, 2011)

19
UNECE EATL Rail routes – 9 groups

Source: UNECE, 2016


20
UNECE EATL Road routes – 9 groups

Source: UNECE, 2016


21
Azerbaijan
Indicative information on transport key facts
Transport Key Facts
Road Transport
The road sector accounts for 33 % of transport freight turnover
Azerbaijan has 25,000 km of roads, of which 92 % are paved
The main highways carrying international traffic are: (a) the
Baku-Alat-Ganja-Kazakh-Georgian Border corridor (the
Azerbaijani section of TRACECA) with a length of 503 km and, (b)
the North-South corridor that stretches out from the Russian
Federation to the Iranian border along 521 km.
Current status of highways
- AH5, Total length: 503 Km,
- AH 8, Total length: 465 Km
- AH 81, Total length: 473 Km
- AH 83, Total length: 14 Km
Rail Transport
The total length of main railroads is 2100 km including 803 km
of double-track sections
1260 km (i.e. 60%) of the total length is electrified
EATL railway corridors 3,5 and 8 pass through the Azerbaijan
railway system
In 2016 the International Association “Trans-Caspian
International Transport Route” was established
Another important rail transport service, which is under
construction, is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Line

Source: UNECE, 2012; Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan , 2017

22
Kazakhstan
Indicative information on transport key facts
Transport Key Facts
Road Transport
Kazakhstan possesses a road network totalling more than 88.9
thousand km, of which 13 thousand km are of international
significance, linking the Asian and European motorways.
The overall road density in Kazakhstan is 32.4 km per 1,000
km2; approximately 94 % of roads are paved
The EATL network in Kazakhstan covers 22 major routes on 23
international roads (AH5, AH6, AH7, AH60-64, AH67, AH68,
AH70, E011-016, E38, E40, E121, E123, E125, E127) totalling
28,472 km of roadways
Rail Transport
The national railway network consists of more than 14,000 km,
and 3,000 km of it are electrified
Kazakhstan railroads are at the crossroad of EATL routes:
railway corridors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 pass through the country
In 2016, about 244 million tons of cargoes were transported by
rail and the passenger transportation accounts for 20.3 million
people
By 2020, it is estimated that about 15 million tons will be
transported along the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway
line. The main advantage of rail transport compared to the sea
transport is the speed, which is about 10-12 days, whereas by
sea it is about 23 days

Source: UNECE, 2012; Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan , 2017

23
Physical barriers

 Physical barriers occur due to natural reasons, technical and technological inconsistency, poor infrastructure
maintenance, shortage of network sections/nodes capacity. A special type of physical barrier is the absence of
particular section of transport network or certain object (bridge, intermodal terminal, logistics centre, etc.) that could
obviously improve the conditions for transportation and trade.
Indicative example of missing road links in Pakistan
Source: Ministry of Transport of Pakistan, 2017

Missing links

Missing links

24
Physical barriers

 UN agreements define minimum infrastructure standards and some operational parameters in the pan-European region
and the Asian region (TAR/AH). These agreements constitute the first step towards the elimination of non-physical
barriers as they determine the minimum infrastructure standards for a future construction

 A number of projects have been launched to improve the physical road and rail infrastructure in Central, Southeastern
and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia

 The 32 Asian Development Bank (ADB) developing member countries, during the next ten years, are expected to need
almost US$8.22 trillion for infrastructure investment. Of the total investment, approximately 49% is estimated to be
needed for energy infrastructure, 35% for transport, 13% for ICT, and 3% for water and sanitation

National Infrastructure Investment Needs in Asia: 2010-2020,


Source: ADB, 2009
% of Total Asian Investment Estimated Investment Needs
Country / Sub-region
Need (US$ millions)
Central Asia 4.544% 373,657
Afghanistan 0.318% 26,142
Armenia 0.051% 4,179
Azerbaijan 0.344% 28,317
Georgia 0.060% 4,901
Kazakhstan 0.846% 69,538
Kyrgyz Rep. 0.107% 8,789
Pakistan 2.172% 178,558
Tajikistan 0.139% 11,468
Uzbekistan 0.508% 41,764

25
Physical barriers (indicative): Rail infrastructure

Rail transport
 Railway gauge change
– The “classic” problem for international rail transportation is the necessity to shift from one gauge to another at certain border points
– Most of the Western European EATL countries as well as China and Afghanistan use standard 1435 mm gauge. Former Soviet Union
states and Finland use the “Russian” 1520 mm gauge
– Τransfer operations are necessary: a) cargo transhipment between different types of railcars or b) (usually in case of passenger
transportation) – change of boogies

 Railway system change


– Different railway systems means:
• technologies (electric power system, signalling and communication, rolling stock requirements, etc.)
• documentation (waybills, wagon lists, etc.);
• legal network accessibility for foreign locomotives/wagons/locomotive brigades;
• special requirements (for example, Chinese Railways place an armed officer on the train, which often causes delays)

– Operations caused by these differences can include:


• documentary checks for matching between consignment notes, wagon lists, and cargo documents.
• classification and switching of wagons, forming the trains to carry the cargo transhipped at the border crossing point
• exchange of locomotives and crews;
• rolling stock technical inspections;
• Preparation of rail transfer documents

– The time required for break-of gauge operations ranges from 2,8 hours to 2,5 hours, the classification of trains from 1,7 hours to 1,2
hours, and the customs clearance from 3,7 hours to 15,1 hours

26
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

27
Non-physical barriers: definition

 Non-physical barriers represent lack of proper policies, non-harmonized legislation, poor regulations and
administrative procedures, lack of cross-border administrative interoperability, failure in application of trade facilitation
standards and best practices, insufficient attention to modern IT equipment for processing and data exchange or
unskilled personnel.
– Besides that, one should not omit issues such as: contradictions of state and private interests and, in some cases,
corruption.
– Non-physical barriers can cause enormous losses of time and money, decrease the quality of service or even create
the serious barriers on particular trade lanes.

Indicative list of non-physical barriers


Non-physical barriers that apply both Non-physical barriers that apply mainly
for road and rail transportation for road transportation
Border-crossing VISA formalities

Export and import documents International trade and transport agreements

Arbitrary transit charges

Cost of logistics

28
Border crossing (1/2)

 Border crossings waiting times and delays constitute a significant share of the overall travel time spent by trucks and
trains on EATL routes and therefore have a strong negative impact on the attractiveness of the routes.

 One of the main requirements of supply chains is reliability and punctuality of services. In certain cases, short lead
time is not among the advantages of the certain route but logistic providers prefer this particular route because of its
stable and predictable parameters.

 As for many EATL routes, especially in Central Asia, stability and predictability of services are at poor level.
Unpredictable delays, low degree of reliability, the unpredictability of services quality and price create severe
disincentives to invest and increase total logistics costs

 Main inefficiencies that make border crossing a significant barrier:


– Transit time can vary dramatically
– Shortages of rolling stock and equipment occur suddenly causing the delays
– Custom regulations, rail tariffs and road charges can change unexpectedly
– Transit controls is implemented uniformly, irrespective of the principal’s reliability and competence;
– Convoy or escort systems are applied not only against risky cargo or insecure vessels (open trucks), but also on containers or sealed
box wagons
– Obsolete freight transport rules and regulations
– Inadequate carnets and guarantee systems or the poor implementation of widespread transit systems like TIR
– Additional charges and fees (often at regional level) can be introduced without warning
– Railways can impose shipping bans to neighbour countries or to certain points for limited capacity reasons

29
Border crossing (2/2)

Average border crossing times, Uzbekistan Average border crossing times for selected countries
Source: (UNECE, 2017) Source: (UNECE, 2017)

30
Other non-physical obstacles (1/2)

VISA formalities
 Procedures related to visa issuance can also have a strong negative impact on the shipment of cargo along EATL
routes, due to the following issues (UNECE, 2017):
– drivers may have to request visas for several transit countries, because of multiple border crossings along each proposed route;
– in a number of countries, drivers’ visas may not be issued at the border, but only at the Consular Sections
– the procedures for issuing visas can frequently be discriminatory, drivers from some countries may obtain visas quicker and with
fewer formalities than drivers from other countries;
– the visa procedures in the transit countries may not be synchronized (neither in the list of documents required, the charges nor the
length of time required for processing)
– a number of countries did not offer long-term multi-entry visas.
– long processing times and high consular charges were a serious disincentive

Export and import documents


 The number of export documents varies among EATL participating countries

 Good practice examples related to import documentation include Armenia requiring seven, Bulgaria six, China five,
the Republic of Moldova seven and Georgia requiring only four import documents

 EATL landlocked countries are presumed to need more days to export a container than countries with seaports: it
takes on average 82 days to send an export from Tajikistan, 76 days to send an export from Kazakhstan, 74 days to
send an export from Afghanistan and 71 and 63 days from Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyzstan,29 respectively

31
Other non-physical obstacles (2/2)

International trade and transport agreements


 Currently, the legal framework for undertaking international road cargo shipments between Asia and Europe is mainly
based on bilateral intergovernmental agreements on international road transport
 National bodies issue their hauliers a fixed number of permits, which grant the right to travel through the territories of
the countries specified
 The transit countries, through which the Euro–Asian routes run have, to date, counted more than 140 bilateral
agreements with countries in Europe and Asia, of which 75 govern transport between two transit states

Intermodal transport
 Trucks travelling from Asia to Europe (Caspian Sea, Black Sea) face delays due to the lack of ferry timing information,
and because ferries are primarily geared to transport railway containers

Cost of logistics
 Landlocked economies are primarily affected by a high cost of freight services and a high degree of unpredictability in
transportation time
 Delays and the low degree of reliability and the unpredictability of services create severe disincentives to invest and
increase total logistics costs.

32
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

33
Estimation of cost trade: Rail transport

 The real challenge is to increase the use of block trains in Euro-Asian transport linkages

 Currently, the major block trains operating with some regularity are those organized for particular clients the number
of wagons can vary between 31 and 37, setting train capacity at 62-74 containers, based on 40 TEUs (12-metre)
containers.
 The maximum formation length for one block train is usually 1,000 meters

 Major benefits from block trains


– Routes are predetermined in advance
– With no stopping for assembly and disassembly, the block train offers high-volume customers an economic alternative to regular rail
freight operations
– Without changes in wagon formation, lead times are shorter and regularity is secured

Source: UNECE, 2012

34
Estimation of cost trade: Rail transport – Time schedule analysis

 The formulation of an integrated time schedule for a block train is a complex task.

 The number of countries, operating conditions in these countries, stopovers and the reasons for these stopovers all
directly influence the time schedule.
 Regional characteristics are also important and constitute a significant factor. For instance, in Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) countries, there are trans-shipment stopovers due to gauge changes and security. In
western European countries, there are stopovers because of passenger train priority
 The timetable and its reliability are the most important marketing tools of train operators, even more so than tariffs,
and track and trace services
 Challenges
– The development of the timetable and its reliable implementation is a particularly difficult task, not only because of the usual factors
that influence transportation but also because of the particularities of a specific route.

– Technical issues: railway gauge change, railway system change (i.e. signalling)

– Other non-physical barriers (e.g. border-crossing)

Source: UNECE, 2012

35
Estimation of cost trade: Rail transport – Cost analysis

 Factors that typically influence tariff structures and their level are:
– Different tariffs for the same routes are quoted by forwarders and state rail organizations
– State rail organizations charge different clients differently. A forwarder, a shipper, a small trader with one container or a big
manufacturer with 1,000 containers per year pay different tariffs
– The actual, charged tariffs are different from the published tariffs
– Tariffs differ depending on whether:
• it is bulk or container cargo
• it is carried in wagons or by a block train
• the client is a forwarder or a shipper
• the amount of cargo is large
• it is a long-term contract with a guarantee for the quantity
• terms of payment

 Indicative rail tariffs (in US dollars)

Countries 20’ full 20’ empty 40’ empty


40’ full container 20’ full container 40’ full container
container container container
(per container) (per km) (per km)
(per container) (per km) (per km)

Iran 747 1,093 0.46 0.68 0.23 0.34

Kazakhstan 614 989 0.64 1.03 0.31 0.48

Source: UNECE, 2012

36
Rail transport – Cost analysis
Case study: The Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul Container Train

Source: UNECE, 2012

37
Estimation of cost trade: Road transport

 Trucks move containers from the shipper to the port of origin and from the port of destination to the final client.

 Road transport to these destinations is round trip as the truck picks up the empty containers from the storage place
of the shipping lines/forwarders – normally close to the port – brings it to the shippers’ warehouse, waits for the
container to be loaded and, finally, moves the loaded container to the port of origin.
 Indicative flat rates for a truck delivering a container (20- or 40-foot) in a 20-km radius of the port

 Based on UNECE data the cost of international road transport is as follows:


– From Istanbul to Western Europe, the rate is €0.82–0.92 per km
– From Western Europe to Istanbul is €0.9–1.
– From Istanbul to Almaty, Kazakhstan the rate is $1–1.4/km and in the other direction it is $0.8–1 per km.
– The rate of $1.4 per km for long distances appears to be the average tariff.

Source: UNECE, 2012

38
Rail vs. Road transport (Islamabad to Istanbul)

Road transportation

• The distance traveled in


Dist both cases is almost the
anc same
e
Rail transportation • Rail transport has a
Dur reduction of 9% in terms of
atio trip duration
n
• Rail transport has a
reduction of 50% in terms
Cost of trip cost

Source: UNECE, 2012

39
Agenda

• Project scope and objectives

• Trends and challenges in the area

• Existing transport infrastructure and physical barriers

• Non-physical barriers

• Estimation of cost trade

• Challenges & SWOT Analysis

40
Main challenges: Overview

 Building Transport and Trade Facilitation (TTF) partnerships: Arrangements in which two or more organizations join to
advance their objectives for better facilitation of legitimate trade, combined with better controls of noncompliant
trade.
 Electronic commerce and business: The relation of e-commerce and business in the context of trade and transport
facilitation can be broadly defined as facilitation of business-to business (B2B) and business-to-administration (B2A)
operations in the course of commercial transactions by optimally using ICT for issuing, submitting, accepting, and
processing electronic documents between the involved parties.
 Customs issues: Those topical issues currently under discussion, being given consideration, or actively receiving
attention, which relate to the policy, operational, or technical environment of the international customs community.
 Border agency modernization: Comprehensive streamlining of processes, formalities, procedures, and documents
handled by institutions and agencies involved with trade, supported by an improved legal and regulatory framework,
institutional strengthening, information technology solutions, and improved human resources.

41
Regional connectivity: SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses
 Political willingness for regional collectivity  Lack of implementation mechanisms and financial resources
 Significant amount of transport initiatives (14 initiatives)  Lack of preparing bankable projects
 IFI’s involvement  Lack of corridor concept
 Significant amount of success stories, case studies and best  Significant amount of transport initiatives (14 initiatives)
practices  Political willingness
 Willingness for cooperation (between Central Asian countries)  Missing links
 Knowledge sharing and capacity  Harmonization of border-crossing procedures
 Trade promotion  Lack of attracting cargo
 Existence of regional and international legal instruments  Lack of awareness of business community

Opportunities Threats

 Involvement of shippers and cargo movers  Significant amount of transport initiatives (14 initiatives)
 Euro-Asian region: Significant amount of developing countries  Lack of financial resources
 Technology and GIS applications  Lack of innovative ways to finance projects
 New approaches from IFI’s (holistic approach, i.e. not only  Lack of capacity to prepare bankable projects
infrastructure development but also tackling of soft barriers  Physical security
such as cross-border facilitation)  No cooperation and strict initiative focus
 Integrated services and marketing tools  No political willingness
 R&D and Innovation actions  Protracted/ unresolved conflict
 Exchange of experience between countries  Bureaucratic processes between states
 Political preferences in the classification of project
prioritization

42
Thank you very much for your attention

43

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