The National Workshop on Multimodal Transport in the Republic of Kazakhstan was held in Astana on 21-22 August 2008. It was organized by ECO/ IDB/ UNCTAD/ UNESCAP under a Joint Project for Multimodal Transport in the ECO Region. About 40 stakeholders from the government and private sector, as well as representatives of ECO and UNESCAP participated in it.
The workshop was inaugurated by His Excellency Mr. Azat Bekdurov, Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan. ECO’s Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Alybayev and Ms. Geetha Karandawala, Chief, Trade Facilitation Section of UNESCAP also spoke on the occasion.
Resource persons, international as well as national, gave presentations on various aspects of Multimodal Transport and its different modes (road, railway, etc.) and related issues (insurance, finance, private sector partnerships and visa procedures).
International Legal Frameworks for multimodal transport as well as roles and responsibilities of Freight Forwarders were also discussed in detail.
The workshop included a special session to analyze obstacles to development of transport in general, and development of Multimodal Transport in particular, in Kazakhstan. Concrete recommendations were formulated by the workshop. These included, mainly:
-Establishing Transit Transport/MMT Committee to streamline issues related to MMT and trade facilitation.
-In order for Public Private Partnership in a more coordinated manner in future, a database of key information/data be set up and made available to all stakeholders.
-The establishment of ECOs Logistics Providers Associations Federation be seized as an opportunity to expand ties with the Associations of Freight Forwarders in other ECO member states. Also there is a need for greater interaction and participation among the ECO member states in capacity building for MMT.
-The workshop emphasized the need for effective implementation of the TTFA, which would contribute to development of MMT in the region. The workshop recommended to the Government, the ECO and UNESCAP to plan the capacity building measures needed for accession to and implementation of international convention enlisted in the TTFA.
-The workshop urged the ECO to explore the possibility of developing a regional regime for Multimodal Transport.
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