"Transport facilitation tools" national seminar was organized by Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in cooperation with Mongolia National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with the support of the UNESCAP and held on 7 June in Ulaanbaatar. The purpose of the workshop was to work on was to improving understanding and build capacity of officials from different government agencies and private sectors on the tools of transport facilitation.

In the workshop about 90 representatives participated from various government agencies such as Cabinet Secretariat of Government of Mongolia, Ministry of Roads and Transport, Ministry of Industry, General  agency of State Inspection  and General administration of Customs and Taxes and Border administration and  private sectors such as exporters, importers, freight forwarders and customs forwarders companies, the workshop was opened by Mrs.Magvan Oyunchimeg, and Mrs.Yura Ulziijargal, Acting Director, General Strategic Policy, Planning and Cooperation Department of Minstry of Roads and Transport, Ms. Virginia Tanase Chief, Transport Facilitation and Logistics Section, Transport Division, United Nations ESCAP.

Within the framework of this seminar, the following presentations were reported by national agencies and private sector:

• Current status of cross-border and transit transport - presentation by Ministry of Road and Transport of Mongolia;
• Presentations on status, challenges and potential of cross-border and transit transport- presentation by Mongolia Customs;
• Challenges to transit transport for Mongolia- presentation by Tuushin LLC;

And the following presentations were reported by UNESCAP:

• Brief overview of ESCAP Transport Facilitation and Logistics Tools;
• Intergovernmental Agreement on International Road Transport along the Asian Highway Network negotiated by China, Mongolia and the Russian Federation;
• Secure Cross Border Transport Model- technological solution for transit transport facilitation in Mongolia;
• Paperless transit transport - towards an automated customs transit transport system;
• Integrating transport requirements in single window environment- key issues and challenges;
• Introduction to Bhutan-India feasibility study on pilot implementation of secure cross border transport model.

The workshop discussed the current progress of the Mongolian transport and transit, and the way forward for supporting the transport facilitation tools and transit transport. In concluding the seminar, the Workshop made recommendations for successfully implementing the facilitation tools.