MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) - The House of Representatives ratified the Belarusian-Chinese intergovernmental agreement on international freight transport and cooperation in implementing the Silk Road concept, BelTA has learned.
When presenting the bill, Belarus’ Transport and Communications Minister Anatoly Sivak said that the agreement is intended to strengthen cooperation in transportation and logistics, to enhance the competitiveness of the international transport route between Europe and Asia.
In accordance with the agreement, the countries will incite businesses and organizations for improving the efficiency of international transit and will facilitate the organization of multimodal transport to third countries.
The states-parties to the agreement undertake to simplify and shorten the procedures based on a declarative principle, accelerate the movement of goods across the customs border. Anatoly Sivak noted that the synchronization of customs clearance and paperwork management will help speed up the procedures at the border and make cargo transit through Belarus more attractive. The minister added that other countries will be able to join the agreement.
In January-October this year around 170,000 containers were moved along the Europe-China-Europe route via border crossings in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia.