(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 26. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) says countries involved in the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) may need to reassess bottlenecks as the project has seen significant developments over the past five years.

Azhar Jaimurzina Ducrest, Chief of the Transport Connectivity and Logistics Section at ESCAP, told Trend in an exclusive interview that the commission has been supporting INSTC participants through analytical work and technical consultations. "As part of its analytical and capacity-building work on transport connectivity, ESCAP published a study report in 2019 on coordinating and management arrangements for select multimodal transport corridors in Asia, where several transport corridors were explored from the perspective of their coordination and management mechanisms. That report covered the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC)," she said.

Following requests from participating countries, ESCAP convened two virtual consultative meetings in 2020 to discuss corridor operations. "These meetings were held virtually and attended by Azerbaijan, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation," Jaimurzina Ducrest noted.

She highlighted Iran's active engagement in ESCAP's broader transport initiatives. "The Islamic Republic of Iran plays an active role in ESCAP's work on transport connectivity under the auspices of the intergovernmental Agreements on the Trans-Asian Railways, Asian Highways and Dry Ports," she said. "Thanks to their initiative, a new annex to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway network was adopted by the Parties to facilitate an electronic information exchange among railways and other border agencies, which can be implemented on a corridor level".

Looking back at the INSTC-focused consultations, she said: "ESCAP facilitated two meetings for the INSTC members back in 2020. At that time, participants flagged particular bottlenecks and other issues affecting efficient transportation on the INSTC, including infrastructure missing links". But she added that the picture may now have shifted. "However, there have been a lot of developments in the past five years, so key bottlenecks might be different at present".

Digitalization at the center

ESCAP is also intensifying support for digital tools aimed at reducing delays and improving efficiency across regional transport corridors, including those involving Iran.

She noted that ESCAP "actively promotes measures facilitating transport operations and minimizing delays at border-crossings, increasing efficiency of cross-border transport and customs procedures". Today, she said, digitalization has become central to member states' priorities. "Measures on digitalization of transport and transport-related documentation and on mutual recognition of digital formats are of particularly high interest to our member states".

Jaimurzina Ducrest pointed to the new annex on electronic information exchange added to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway network as a good example of ESCAP work in this area.

ESCAP deepens cooperation with TRACECA, UNECE on multimodal transport and digital solutions

ESCAP is also deepening cooperation with regional organizations. "We are strengthening our coordination and collaboration with relevant partners, including subregional organizations," she said. "As the most recent example, we have just had a joint session with TRACECA on November 13, 2025. The session touched upon the matters of transport digitalization in TRACECA countries, where overall progress in this direction was discussed and potential pilot projects for multimodal transportation with the use of digital solutions were also considered".

She added that ESCAP is working closely with other UN bodies as well: "For the promotion of the implementation of digital instruments, ESCAP is actively collaborating with UNECE on digital solutions for the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway corridor".

Beyond pilot initiatives, ESCAP members have adopted broader strategic commitments. "In addition to the new annex on electronic information exchange added to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway network, ESCAP member States adopted a Strategy 2030 on accelerating rail digital transformation in the Asia-Pacific region in 2023," Jaimurzina Ducrest said, noting that a regional framework on strengthening rail cybersecurity in the Asia-Pacific region is being finalized.

Operational connectivity and resilience prioritized along corridors involving Iran

ESCAP sees the greatest immediate need for technical assistance along transport corridors involving Iran in strengthening operational connectivity and boosting resilience through digital tools, Azhar Jaimurzina Ducrest said.

She noted that ESCAP mostly focuses on the promotion of operational connectivity, and that under current conditions the topic of promoting resilience of transport infrastructure, including transport corridors, to increase their protection against natural hazards, is a high priority. A major element of that resilience, she said, is the introduction of digitalized solutions for transport operations and customs clearance procedures.

Jaimurzina Ducrest noted that ESCAP is working on digital tools that can be applied across the region, including on Iranian routes. "ESCAP promotes digital solutions that can be useful for all our member states, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, with due adaptation to national contexts, such as national legislative and regulatory frameworks," she said.

While digitalization is the primary focus, she stressed that physical infrastructure still requires investment. When planning the design or upgrade of roads, railways, ports and border facilities, she said, "consideration should be given to ensuring its disaster resilience, such as earthquakes. This will increase the costs and create an additional demand for capital investment, so in a number of ESCAP studies and events, the matter of exploring different options for capital investment allocation is being touched upon".

ESCAP also works to bring together governments and industry to address practical challenges. "We organize activities with involvement of various groups of stakeholders, as platforms for discussions on practical matters of transport corridor operations. We work to promote a regional approach that invites representatives of all countries who are interested in transport corridor development," she said.

A recent example was the first regional Forum of Dry Ports Operators, Logistics and Multimodal Transport Service Providers, held in March 2025. "We invited governments, transport industry stakeholders and academia to attend and discuss matters on dry ports and multimodal transport, exchange information and opinions," Jaimurzina Ducrest said. She added that ESCAP received strong support from the Forum participants to continue offering our role as the cooperation platform, and hopes to host similar events soon to attract more transport and logistics industry players into discussions at its platform.

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