Global Partnership for Sustainable Transport

The Ashgabat Transport Business

Summit: “Businesses in action for Sustainable Transport for 2030”

Ashgabat, TurkmenistanNovember 27, 2016

By Juliette Passer, Esq.Senior Advisor to GPST

There are the words of Victor Hugo, which read:  “... The day shall come, when there will be no battlefields other than markets opening up to trade, and minds opening up to ideas...”

Sustainable Development for All Transport Modes

Modernization

Coordination

Transparency

Internetization

Standardization

Harmonization

Simplification

©Juliette Passer for Eurasia Transit Advisory Group, 2016

1. The reduction, simplification and standardization of data and documentation required by customs and other agencies;

2. The creation of an environment that allows for systematic dialogue between government and the business community;

3. The coordination and cooperation between customs and other control agencies, with the view to achieve a “single window”;

4. The harmonization of regulations of border agencies;

5. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are important tools for promoting trade facilitation by enhancing transparency, ensuring consistency and supporting simplification;

6. Use of risk management and authorized trader schemes (AEO) by customs and other agencies at the border; and

7. Establishment of transit corridors, which is a route between two or more countries that have agreed to apply facilitated procedures.

Transportation Policy Interfaces

Land, Maritime or

Air

Urban orRural

Transport Policies

Private orPublic

©Juliette Passer for Eurasia Transit Advisory Group, 2016

The relationship between transport systems and human societies is multi-faceted; the interfaces occur at various geographical, institutional, and socio-economic levels with vastly different priorities for developing, landlocked and developed nations.

Defining a sustainability perspective on transport is therefore quite challenging, so numerous are the angles from which it can be approached.

Global Silk Routes Initiative Actions Areas

Trade GSRIFacilitation

Infrastructure Development

& Financing

Best Practices

©Juliette Passer for Eurasia Transit Advisory Group, 2016

(i) removal of impediments to globalization of trade along the Silk Routes, including facilitation of efficiency in border crossings and implementation of relevant UN conventions, such as the Harmonization Convention and the TIR Convention;

 (ii)development of best practices for

investments in transport infrastructure, including ancillary infrastructure and public-private partnerships; and 

(iii)exchange of information on best practices between private and public players across all modes of transport and relevant countries along the Silk Routes necessary for trade facilitation.

GPST Global Silk Routes Initiative: a Concept Rooted in History

Global Silk Routes Initiative (GSRI) – Platform For New Business Approaches

PRIORITY ACTION AREAS:

•Regional Focus: Facilitating Implementation Of TIR And SCO Agreements By Landlocked Countries

•Regional Focus: Facilitating Eurasian Transport Linkages By Establishing Regional Freight Exchanges

•Regional Focus: Promoting Regional Connectivity With Digital Navigation Road And Road Infrastructure Maps

•Global Focus: Facilitating Development Of Sustainable Ancillary Road Transport Infrastructure

•Global Focus: Building Human And Institutional Capacity – School of Transport Diplomacy

•Global Focus: Trade Facilitation Tools For Maritime Transportation Sector

•Global Focus: Accessing Market Opportunities For The Rising Tide of E-commerce Traffic

   

Land Transport And Transit Are Of Great Concern To LLDCs

There are 32 LLDCs, 16 are located in Africa, 10 in Asia, 4 in Europe and 2 in Latin America.

Only 9 LLDCs have over 50 per cent of their roads paved. The average distance to the nearest seaport for LLDCs is 1,370 kms. Due to often long transit times and high transport costs the share of LLDCs in world trade in goods continues to stagnate at around 1 per cent.

From Transport Corridors to Multimodal Transit Corridors

Multimodal Transit Corridors

Intergovernmental Agreement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States on the Facilitation of International Road Transport (SCO Agreement).The SCO Agreement opens more than 15,000 km of the Asian Highway routes for transport operation and services, with the longest route stretching more than 9,000 km from Saint Petersburg, Russia to Lianyungang, China. The SCO Agreement will also facilitate landlocked Central Asia’s access to sea by road through China and the Russian Federation.

One Belt – One Road Strategy

The Chinese Government identified five major objectives for the belt:

1B1R - I Policy coordination - expanding economic

collaboration; 1B1R - II Facilities connectivity - improving rail,

road and fiber-optic connectivity;

1B1R - III Unimpeded Trade - promoting trade and investment;

1B1R - IV Financial integration - facilitating currency conversion, bond markets, cross-border

transactions and multilateral financial cooperation; and

1B1R - V People-to-People Bond - boosting cultural, educational and

personal cooperation and exchanges.

MULTIMODAL “TURSUNZADE” LOGISTICS  & DISTRIBUTION CENTRE

• Development of intermodal and multimodal transportations of cargoes;

• Connection of freight traffic and industrial areas;

• Creation of modern industrial and technological base;

• Using modern warehouses with refrigeration systems, packaging and labeling of products;

• Implementation of a unified information system for monitoring and planning of export, import and transit through the territory of Republic of Tajikistan.

Capital: DushanbePresident: H.E. Emomali RahmonPopulation: 8.208 million (2013) World BankNeighboring countries: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, China

CAREC Route 5 and SCO Route 3

“Green” Transport And Investments In

Transport InfrastructureKey elements:

Creation of modern ancillary roadside infrastructure along main trade routes and transport corridors

Institutional reforms and implementation of best practices in the road transport sector and border crossingEstablishment of an investment mechanism

Creation/Modernization of “rest areas”, “service areas”, “parking lots”, “dry ports”, border crossing points

Harmonization of procedures and facilitation of international road transport and border crossing

Modernization of ancillary roadside infrastructure via establishment of national investment funds with “blended” financing based on PPP mechanism

Innovative Approaches To Global Supply Management

Creation of Experts Group on Global Transit Document (GTrD)

CARGO-CLAIMANT CARRIER

inland waterways or maritime

vehicle or container

6 stages

3 modes

choice of venue

choice of law: domestic or international

2+ countries

Low Predictability and High Litigation Costs

Global E-CommerceIn the United States alone, according to FedEx Ground data, the e-commerce market is expected to top $300 billion in sales and a report by eMarketer shows that the global B2C e-commerce sector is expected to reach $2.3 trillion by 2017.

From China, the Asian counterpart to Amazon – Alibaba – has been more forthcoming about its plans to dominate the logistics industry on a global scale, much as it has already done to Chinese domestic e-commerce. It logistics arm, called Cainiao, was only formed in 2013 and just two years later, during the 2015 “Singles Day” promotion in China, Alibaba reported a staggering online sales of $14.3 billion in a 24-hour period. Just about every number associated with Alibaba’s Cainiao network is staggering. Here are just a few of the reported statistics:

217 – Countries expected to be involved in its e-commerce cross-border network 1,800 – Distribution centers across China

3,000 – Foreign and domestic logistics partners in China Smart Logistics network

176,000 – Cainiao delivery stations across China 300,000 – Cainiao “pickup stations,” where customers can take delivery of online goods 1.5 million – Delivery personnel in China 30 million – Average number of packages handled daily, as of mid-2015 467 million – Delivery orders in 24-hour period of Singles Day 2015

MIT – School of Transport Diplomacy

What is needed is an open exchange of information and an ongoing cooperative dialogue among all stakeholders, which is what the new Global Silk Routes Initiative offers for today’s complex and diverse global market.

Thank you

© Eurasia Transit Advisory Group, 2016