UN Official: What Armenia Should Do to Become a Transportation and Logistics Hub

Armenia has joined 13 of the 61 UN transport conventions and other legal instruments, although it is not mandatory for the country to join all these conventions. This was stated by Dmitry Mariasin, the Deputy Executive Secretary of UNECE, during a panel discussion at the "Yerevan Dialogue" conference on the topic "Armenia as a Transportation and Logistics Hub: Prospects for Development". He addressed the question of how Armenia can use the UN road safety conventions to improve road safety in its logistics and transport sectors and ensure they align with global best practices.

“However, we believe that Armenia should more actively utilize the existing legal frameworks that will facilitate transit and trade, improve road safety, and, more importantly, create predictability and transparency for businesses that will know on what legal grounds the country operates,” he said, adding that most EU member states have joined almost all UN transport-related conventions.

Dmitry Mariasin highlighted three agreements that could be very important for Armenia to comply with EU standards. These include the European Agreement on Important International Combined Transport Lines, the European Agreement on Main International Railway Lines, and the European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries. The UN official noted that Turkey, Georgia, and Russia have joined the first agreement, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran have not. This means that if Armenia wants to be a transportation and logistics hub in the region, and if other countries also have similar intentions, it should consider the possibility of joining this agreement. Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Russia have joined the third agreement, while Iran has not. Turkey and Russia have joined the second agreement, while the other countries have not.

Dmitry Mariasin also pointed out that the next important issue is road safety, and Armenia has joined four out of the seven UN conventions regulating this area. Currently, the UN is working closely with Armenia to improve the legal framework for road safety, strategic management, data collection, and behavior change.

“Unfortunately, mere adherence to any convention does not change the reality on the ground. Fatalities from road traffic accidents are on the rise in the country. There are many reasons for this; I will not go into details, but I would encourage the government and all interested parties to consider a comprehensive reassessment of the situation, to develop a road safety strategy, and certainly, we are ready to work with Armenia in this direction,” he added.

The UN official noted that Armenia is currently in a high-risk zone in terms of the rate of fatalities from traffic accidents per 1 million inhabitants, with 360 people dying from road traffic accidents each year, which is a very high figure for a small country like Armenia.

Dmitry Mariasin also stated that in addition to improving the legal framework in this area, Armenia can use UN platforms to activate dialogue with neighboring countries to participate in regional projects such as the Eurasian Corridor and the Middle East Corridor. He emphasized that the impact of climate change on the transport routes through these corridors should be considered now to understand what the state of these routes is in terms of resilience and vulnerabilities.

This article was transmitted by News.am.