Economy Materials 6 December 2025 23:01 (UTC +04:00)

Photo: ESCAP

BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 6. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is intensifying support for digital tools aimed at reducing delays and improving efficiency across regional transport corridors, including those involving Iran, Azhar Jaimurzina Ducrest, Chief of the Transport Connectivity and Logistics Section at ESCAP, told Trend.

She noted that ESCAP "actively promotes measures facilitating transport operations and minimizing delays at border-crossings, increasing efficiency of cross-border transport and customs procedures". Today, she said, digitalization has become central to member states’ priorities. "Measures on digitalization of transport and transport-related documentation and on mutual recognition of digital formats are of particularly high interest to our member states".

Jaimurzina Ducrest pointed to the new annex on electronic information exchange added to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway network as a good example of ESCAP work in this area.

ESCAP is also deepening cooperation with regional organizations. "We are strengthening our coordination and collaboration with relevant partners, including subregional organizations," she said. "As the most recent example, we have just had a joint session with TRACECA on November 13, 2025. The session touched upon the matters of transport digitalization in TRACECA countries, where overall progress in this direction was discussed and potential pilot projects for multimodal transportation with the use of digital solutions were also considered".

She added that ESCAP is working closely with other UN bodies as well: "For the promotion of the implementation of digital instruments, ESCAP is actively collaborating with UNECE on digital solutions for the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway corridor".

Beyond pilot initiatives, ESCAP members have adopted broader strategic commitments. "In addition to the new annex on electronic information exchange added to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway network, ESCAP member States adopted a Strategy 2030 on accelerating rail digital transformation in the Asia-Pacific region in 2023," Jaimurzina Ducrest said, noting that a regional framework on strengthening rail cybersecurity in the Asia-Pacific region is being finalized.