The State Customs Service of Turkmenistan held talks with a delegation of the International Trade Centre (ITC) on further cooperation in the field of trade facilitation and digitalization, reported the official website of the Turkmen service.

The organization’s delegation was headed by Elena Butrimova, Head of ITC Eastern Europe and Central Asia Department.

The parties discussed the implementation of the Ready4Trade Central Asia initiative. Within the framework of this project, ITC assists Turkmenistan in creating an information portal on trade facilitation with the participation of the country's State Customs Service.

The ITC's new project “Trade Sustainability and Integration” aimed at engaging Turkmenistan's SMEs in international trade was also reviewed. Among the components of the project is “Improving the ecosystem for investment promotion and e-commerce development”, which is scheduled to be launched in June 2024. It plans to support the digitalization of customs procedures.

The ITC delegation was briefed on the progress of digital transformation in the customs authorities of Turkmenistan. It was noted that in December 2023 the project “Single Window for Export-Import Operations” was launched in test mode, the TIR-EPD system is successfully functioning, information exchange with customs administrations of other countries is expanding.