News - What should Armenia do to become transport, logistics hub?

Armenia has acceded to 13 of the 61 UN conventions and other legal instruments related to transport, although the country does not necessarily have to accede to all of them. This was stated by Dmitry Maryasin, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), at the panel discussion entitled "Armenia as a transport and logistics hub: development prospects" at the Yerevan Dialogue 2024 international forum—and addressing the question of how Armenia can use the UN road safety conventions to improve road safety in its logistics and transport sectors and ensure that they are in line with best global practices. "However, we believe that Armenia should more actively implement existing legal frameworks that will facilitate transit and trade, improve road safety and, more importantly, create predictability and transparency for businesses to know what legal basis the country operates on," added Maryasin. Dmitry Maryasin mentioned three agreements, the joining of which could be very important for Armenia to meet EU standards. They are the European Agreement on Important International Combined Transport Lines and related Installations (AGTC), the European Agreement on Main International Railway Lines (AGC), and the European Agreement on Main. International Traffic Arteries (AGR). The UN official noted that Turkey, Georgia, and Russia have joined the first agreement, but Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran have not. In other words, if Armenia wants to be a transport and logistics hub in the region, and if other countries also have the same intention, then they should consider the possibility of joining this agreement. Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Russia have joined the third agreement, but Iran has not. And Turkey and Russia have joined the other agreement, but the other countries have not. Maryasin noted that the next important issue is road safety, and that Armenia has joined four out of seven UN conventions regulating this domain. The UN is currently working closely with Armenia to improve the country's road safety legal regime, strategic management, data collection, and conduct change. The UN official stated that Armenia is currently in a very high risk zone with the death rate of car accidents per 1 million inhabitants, as an average of 360 people die in traffic accidents in the country every year, which is a very high rate for a small country like Armenia. Dmitry Maryasin added that Armenia, in addition to improving the legal regime in this domain, can use UN platforms to intensify dialogue with neighboring countries in order to participate in projects passing through the region. Also, according to Maryasin, the impact of climate change on the communication channels, these corridors, should be taken into account today to find out the condition of these channels in terms of resistance and vulnerabilities.