The Central Asian nations of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan adopted the Ashgabat Initiative on the reduction of barriers to trade and transport in the region.
The adoption of the initiative was part of the Days of the United Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) held Nov. 18-21 in the Turkmen capital.
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) report, this initiative will reduce barriers to trade and transport using UN legal instruments, standards and recommendations, significantly increasing interconnectivity in the region.
Established in 1998, SPECA is a country-owned and country-driven program for the land-locked economies of Central Asia, supported by two United Nations Regional Commissions: the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).