BSEC-URTA provided the opportunity to observe what is going on in the BSEC borders for its members and official institutions
BSEC-URTA organized a site visit to the Sarp-Sarpi Border Crossing Point of Türkiye and Georgia on 8th June 2023, in cooperation and organization with its host member GIRCA for the 41st General Assembly, thanks to the kind support of the Georgian Revenue Service and Turkish Ministry of Trade, Customs Directorates of Sarpi and Sarp.
The BSEC-URTA Members, IRU General Secretary Umberto De Pretto, BSEC PERMIS, UNECE Transport Division, and UNECE, by the efforts of BSEC-URTA, were all in the Sarp and Sarpi Border Crossing Point to observe the flow of the Border Crossings from the Georgian and Turkish Perspective.
After the meeting, Sarpi Customs Directorate hosted the participants for a round table meeting, in which the Turkish and Georgian Customs realized presentations on the working methods, numbers of trucks crossing the border, and future projects of both customs.
At the end of the round meeting, the participants found a platform to discuss the enhancements necessary to be applied in one of the congested border crossing points, Sarp-Sarpi, of the BSEC region, such as the improvement of the process vehicle crossing in the presence of limited physical infrastructure of the border, the need for application of modern custom facilitation procedures such as One Stop Shop Application and TIR Green Lanes, and the development of Ro-Pax services between Türkish and Georgian ports.
As BSEC-URTA International Secretariat, we sincerely thank the Georgian Revenue Service, Turkish Ministry of Trade, Sarp and Sarpi Border Customs Authorities, and GIRCA for their excellent hosting and the provided opportunity to discuss the improvements that can be realized in the Sarp-Sarpi border.
