CAREC Institute Presents Key Findings of the 2023 CPMM Report at 24th CCC Meeting

From September 3 to 4, the CAREC Institute participated in the 24th Meeting of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Customs Cooperation Committee (CCC), held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. Participants reviewed the progress of the CCC Work Plan for 2024–2025 and discussed key areas such as trade facilitation, risk management, regional transit simplification, digitalization, paperless trade, and “green customs.”

Dr. Ghulam Samad, Chief of the Research Division at the CAREC Institute, presented key findings from the CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring (CPMM) Report 2023 in a dedicated session. In his presentation, Dr. Ghulam compared data from 2023 and 2022, showing that road transport had mixed results: average border crossing times increased in 2023, while costs declined and shipment speeds saw slight improvement over the previous year. For rail transport, border crossing times were significantly reduced compared to 2022, but costs rose, and speeds remained largely unchanged. He emphasized that border-crossing continued to be a major factor affecting overall transport speed, with rail crossings causing more significant delays than road crossings. He also discussed the performance of Torkham border-crossing point and outlined plans for developing analytic policy briefs based on CPMM data and the upcoming 2024 CPMM annual report.

The CAREC Institute’s analysis provided valuable input for the meeting, supporting discussions on customs modernization and regional cooperation. The meeting wrapped up with agreement on the next work plan and the adoption of the official protocol.