BSEC-URTA Promotes Joint Action to Improve Border Crossings
BSEC-URTA participated in the Working Party on Customs Matters held on 2 November 2026, bringing together customs representatives from BSEC Member States and IRU. The BSEC-URTA International Secretariat was represented by Secretary General Mehmet Uylukcu, Deputy Secretary General Alpdogan Kahraman, and Experts Elif Nuhoglu and Sadiye Nuhoglu.
IRU’s Lucas Lagier highlighted the contribution of eTIR, TIR corridors, TIR-EPD and dedicated Green Lanes or Windows to regional connectivity.
Participants also exchanged experience on customs facilitation and ongoing work concerning Authorised Economic Operators.
In BSEC-URTA’s presentation, Elif Nuhoglu outlined Türkiye’s regional border-crossing experience, highlighting daily truck movements of approximately 2,000–2,500 at the Türkiye–Iraq border. She also noted that cooperation between Türkiye and Bulgaria had increased daily throughput from approximately 700 to 1,500 trucks, while pointing to capacity constraints at the Türkiye–Greece border, where the maximum daily throughput in one direction is around 300 trucks.
Alpdogan Kahraman presented a broader regional perspective, recognising North Macedonia’s One Stop Shop approach and coordinated border-management cooperation between Moldova and Romania. He emphasised joint management, field assessments and solutions tailored to each crossing.
BSEC-URTA’s proposal to select a pilot border crossing for joint monitoring and coordinated improvement was agreed and recorded in the meeting minutes, providing a practical basis for further cooperation among BSEC Member States.
