CAREC Federation of Carrier and Forwarder Associations (CFCFA) 2015 Annual Meeting and CAREC Customs Cooperation Committee (CCC) Meeting were smoothly held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 19-21 August 2015.
The purposes of the 2015 CFCFA annual meeting were to (i) elect Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and members of the Executive Board and the appointment of a Secretary; (ii) solicit members’ suggestions on their role in implementing the TTFS 2020; and (iii) engage in dialogue with the CAREC Customs Cooperation Committee Meeting. During the CFCFA annual meeting on 19 August, CFCFA members held a secret ballot to choose Capt. Lin Zhong as CFCFA Chairman, Mr. Boymurod Eshonov as vice Chairman, and Ms.Tsevelsikhan Sharbandi as treasury.
On August 20-21, The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Customs Cooperation Committee (CCC) held its 14th Annual Meeting .Heads and senior Customs officials representing Afghanistan (AFG), Azerbaijan (AZE), the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Kazakhstan (KAZ), the Kyrgyz Republic (KGZ), Mongolia (MON), Pakistan (PAK), Tajikistan (TAJ), Turkmenistan (TKM), and Uzbekistan (UZB) attended the meeting. Members of CFCFA were invited to attend the first day of the meeting.
Mr. Lin Zhong, Chairman of CFCFA, presented the results of CFCFA annual meeting , CFCFA, being the private sector representative, would like to participate in the regional trade facilitation effort as they have the first-hand experience with increased cost and lengthy delays due to inconsistent, repetitive and unclear procedures forms and uncoordinated efforts from concerned trade-control agencies. Mr. Lin made further specific suggestions that CFCFA could (i) participate in the AEO implementation as they can provide detailed risk data on traders, carriers and forwarders (ii) be a partner with customs in standardizing trade and transport forms and trade control procedures; (iii) encouraging carriers and forwarders to participate in regional transit regime and introduce financial services to better mitigate risks; (iv) establish an adequate grievance channel for private sector operators to bring their cases to customs authorities, and (v) joining forces with customs in capacity building activities and conducting research in common areas of interest.
Ms. Nargis Khamidova from CFCFA, representing CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring (CPMM) partners who collect and aggregate time/cost-distance data, reported on the 2014 annual results. She highlighted the causes of delays along the CAREC corridors and the top 10 BCPs where these delays occur. She called attention to the slow progress in performance of CAREC corridors over time in spite of significant investments in infrastructure and highlighted the impediments in policies and practices that create conditions in which the benefits from infrastructure improvements are at best minimal. Particular issues are the bilateral status accorded the Karamyk BCP by the Kyrgyz authorities, despite the fact that it is on a CAREC transport corridor, and the uncertainty regarding development of new border crossing facilities at Khorgos.
The CCC members agreed to undertake joint capacity building activities to strengthen cooperation between CFCFA and CCC, and build communication channels.