The 26th meeting of the GUAM Trade and Transportation Facilitation Project (TTFP) steering committee was held on May 31 – June 2 in Nakhchivan city (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan).
Entrepreneurship and development of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable economic growth of the country. In recent years, this trend has been identified as one of the priorities in the economic policy of the State. To this end State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan arranges a series of the local and international events. One of them was the 26th meeting of the GUAM TTFP steering committee which was held on May 31 – June 2 in Nakhchivan city. The participants of the meeting, trade and transportation representatives, who shared their best practices in trade and freight transportation in GUAM member states.
Among the speeches indicated in the agenda was the presentation on “Digital Trade Hub of Azerbaijan” project by Zaur Gardashov, a representative of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications of Azerbaijan. The meeting participants were informed on the possibility to use the Digital Trade Hub by entrepreneurs from GUAM member states, having the trade relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan. The presentation “The concept of the project on the application and mutual recognition of mobile electronic digital signatures for the customs clearance of goods and vehicles transported across the state borders of GUAM member states” by Mrs. Jana Krimpe, the chairwoman of Azerbaijan-Estonian Chamber of Commerce and international expert on Mobile ID project evoked particular interest.
It should be mentioned that the Protocol between the customs administrations of the GUAM member states on mutual recognition of certain results of customs procedures concerning goods and vehicles transported across the state borders of GUAM member states includes an article according to which the parties ensure accompanying the goods and vehicles that move across the state borders, by customs and other documents, including the electronic form, provided and issued in accordance with the GUAM States legislation. The presentation “Mobile ID – secure key to the Digital Trade Hub in Azerbaijan and cross-border e-services” was devoted to the issues of electronic documents and mobile signature, was made by
Mrs. Jana Krimpe, the head of the Azerbaijani company “B.EST Solutions”, the operator of “Asan İmza” mobile digital signature service.
Mrs. Jana Krimpe informed the GUAM TTFP meeting delegates about the achievements of innovative Azerbaijan, including the «Asan İmza» integration with Azexport.az portal, which was presented by the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications of Azerbaijan and follows the «Made in Azerbaijan» concept proclaimed in the country. Today the portal supports exporting goods manufactured in Azerbaijan and collaborates with such global trade platforms as Alibaba.com, eBay.com, Wholesale and All.biz . It was noticed that in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, additional measures are taken to expand the international trade and strengthen the Azexport.az portal as a Digital Trade Hub of Azerbaijan. According to this Decree «Asan İmza» will be issued to the foreign citizens in all diplomatic representatives of Azerbaijan all around the world.
«I would like to pay special tribute to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan for development of the Customs services and their integration with qualified «Asan İmza» Mobile-ID. I am sure that this meeting of GUAM member states will constitute a starting point for creating the cross-border customs e-services infrastructure, which would make an invaluable contribution to the development of trade and transport operations and economic relations between our countries », – Mrs. Jana Krimpe stressed during her speech.
«B.EST Solutions» Company also expressed their willingness to proceed with the donation of the AsanDoc.az single portal where any required e-document can be signed with «Asan İmza» and e-signature of GUAM member states, to be used by the GUAM Secretariat. That would enable the convenient and legal communication between the Customs structures of GUAM member states, as well as simplify the document circulation. Digital Trade Hub would also ensure the cross-border nature of these services.
It should be reminded that to ensure the most efficient achievements and transparency during the goods and vehicle transportation across the customs border the application of electronic customs declarations has been practiced in Azerbaijan since 4 April 2016. The electronic service of customs declaration of goods and vehicles is available on the e-Government (www.e-gov.az) portal. Using this electronic service, citizens can quickly import the goods and vehicles across the customs border within the customs mediation institution via the “Asan İmza” Mobile-ID tool. The introduction of electronic customs declarations facilitated the simplification of the declaration of goods and transport crossing the customs border, ensured the transparency of customs services, created a favorable environment for entrepreneurs and motivated foreign trade. In order to carry out the whole process people declaring their goods at customs, it’s enough to have only a mobile device (mobile phone, tablet PC, etc.) with a SIM-card supporting “Asan İmza” service.
