Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) are organizing the twentieth session of the SPECA Working Group on Trade on 14 March 2025, back-to-back with a seminar “Implementing a Digital Equivalent of the SMGS Railway Consignment Note in the KTI Corridor Using UN Standards”. The Working Group supports cross-border and regional cooperation for the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda in Central Asia (notably SDG targets 17.10 and 17.11) to advance green and sustainable trade. The session will focus on the deliverables of the SPECA Working Group on Trade:
- collaboration among SPECA participating States in the WTO process,
- progress in the implementation of the SPECA Trade Facilitation Strategy and related roadmap,
- progress in the implementation of the Principles for Sustainable Trade in the subregion,
- studies and recommendations on regulatory and procedural non-tariff barriers to trade, and
- digitalization of data and document exchange in multimodal transport and trade using UN standards.
The event will review national and regional plans and strategies of the SPECA participating States for sustainable trade facilitation and development. It will strengthen cooperation among trade diplomats of the SPECA participating States. Participants in the session are requested to contribute their good practices and identify priority actions on which the SPECA Working Group on Trade could work in the coming 2-3 years.