In order to promote joint actions and projects strengthening customs cooperation among the Silk Road countries through concrete steps, the field visits of the delegations consisted from Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan experts and the Organization of Turkic States Secretariat were organized to certain Border Crossing Points (BCP) of the Member States under the “Caravanserai Initiative” of Türkiye, including Azerbaijan-Georgia, “Red Bridge” BCP and Baku International Trade Sea Port, in Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyz-Chinese “Torugart” and “Irkeshtam” BCP’s, in Kazakhstan: Kazakh-Chinese border “Altynkol”, “Nur-Zholy” BCP’s and “Khorgoz” Free Trade Zone, in Türkiye “Kapıkule” BCP. The aim of the visits was to get familiarized with the current situation in BSPs of the Member States and explore the possibility of introducing the Built-Operate-Transfer system of building and modernizing of BCPs implemented by Türkiye within the public-private partnership framework. Also, the visit to the newly constructed Baku International Trade Seaport was realized in 2019 to update the findings and review the recommendations of the previous field visits.

Along with other activities in this field, the Secretariat of the OTS also supports capacity building in the course of promoting customs facilitation through tangible initiatives such as organizing a series of regional workshops. So far, several regional and international workshops on “Post Clearance and Risk management”, “Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) System”, and “Customs Transit Facilitation”, “Electronic TIR System” have been organized in Ankara, Astana, Baku, Bishkek and Izmir by the support of the relevant authorities from the Member States with the close collaboration of international organizations such as World Customs Organization (WCO), USAID, GTZ, IRU, EU and etc.

One of the important achievements obtained in the field of customs was the signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding among the Customs Administrations of the Member States of the OTS on Cooperation in the field of Customs Enforcement” during the 7th meeting of Heads of Customs Administrations held on 11 March 2019 in Nur-Sultan that aims to strengthen cooperation in customs enforcement by exchange of information, experience, and promotion of training seminars. 

The first Working Group meeting on the “Electronic TIR system” (e-TIR) was held on 15 June 2021 in close collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the participation of Customs Authorities of the Turkic Council Member States to exchange views on simplification of customs and transit procedures through establishing the common e-TIR system in the region.

The Turkish-Uzbek Working Group on \"e-Permit\" within the framework of OTS conducted on 30 June 2021 in Tashkent that aimed to discuss technical aspects of the implementation of the \"e-Permit\" system in the transportation of goods among the countries.

The Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) convened an ad-hoc online meeting on the “Caravanserai Project” with the participation of the representatives of State Customs Administrations/relevant Ministries of the Member and the Observer States of the OTS, as well as Georgia on 8 February 2022. The Parties expressed their support to the Project and emphasized the importance of its implementation as a working mechanism for improving the infrastructure of land border crossing points and for ensuring convergence of customs rules and procedures with international standards. The necessity to enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of the Trans-Caspian International East-West Middle Corridor by providing uninterrupted operation of customs-border checkpoints was also emphasized.

Within that framework of the OTS, the ceremony of launching the digital TIR project between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan took place in Uzbekistan on 18 March 2022. It was highlighted that the OTS fully supports the speedy computerization of the entire TIR system and encourages the further extension of the digital TIR to other member and observer countries.

Moreover, the field visit program was conducted by the OTS Secretariat and the Ministry of Trade of Türkiye and Customs and Tourism Enterprises Co. Inc. (GTİ. A.Ş.) under the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) to the border crossing points of Türkiye on 16-18 May 2022. The participants of this field visit were acquainted with the Turkish experience in the modernization and operations of the visited custom border gates.

The 11th Meeting of the Working Group on Customs Cooperation and the 8th Meeting of the Heads of Customs Administrations of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) were held on 8-9 June 2022 in Bishkek. The Heads of Delegations of the OTS Member States, in their statements, emphasized the necessity of continuation of joint activities on regional integration through simplification, modernization, standardization and harmonization of customs procedures, further application of digital tools in customs, sharing best practices and conducting capacity building programs. The main outcome of the meeting was the adoption of the final version of the “Agreement on Establishment of Simplified Customs Corridor among the Governments of Organization of Turkic States”, that scheduled to be signed by Governments of the OTS Member States in September 2022 in Istanbul. The Parties also decided on the completion of the following issues: the further implementation of the “Caravanserai Project”; scheduling of training and capacity building programs for 2022-2023, utilization of additional measures for facilitation of transport and transit procedures in the OTS Member States through applying the modern digital tools (\"e-TIR\", \"e-Permit\" and \"e-CMR\") and organization of joint programs in collaboration with the relevant international organizations; the OTS Modern Silk Road Trade Caravan Demonstration Tour.

In Samarkand Summit of the Organizaition, the “Agreement on Establishment of Simplified Customs Corridor among the Governments of Organization of Turkic States” for facilitating the exchange of information on movement of goods and vehicles between the customs authorities of the OTS Members States was finalized and signed. 

Moreover the Heads of State instructed the relevant institutions of the Member States to continue joint activities on regional integration through simplification, modernization, standardization and harmonization of customs procedures, further application of digital tools in customs, sharing best practices and conducting capacity building programs; urged to continue the implementation of the “Caravanserai Project” that will enhance competitiveness and attractiveness of the Trans-Caspian International East-West Middle Corridor through providing uninterrupted operation of customs-border checkpoints; commended the successful organization of the field visit program conducted by the OTS Secretariat, Ministry of Trade of Türkiye and Customs and Tourism Enterprises Co. Inc. (GTİ. A.Ş.) under the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) to the border crossing points of Türkiye on 16-18 May 2022 with the aim to acquaint with the public-private partnership experience in modernization and operations of the visited custom border gates.

Recently on December 27, 2022, the Customs Administrations of the two countries successfully carried out an eTIR (multimodal) transportation operation performed by an Uzbek carrier on the route from Uzbekistan (t/p Ark-Bulak/Aviayuklar) to Azerbaijan (t/p Airport Baku/Cargo Terminal Baku) using the eTIR electronic guarantee on the UNECE platform. Earlier, within the framework of the OTS and in cooperation with the IRU, the "digital TIR" project was launched between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and extended to Kyrgyzstan in March 2022. This significant achievement is a testament to the commitment of our Member States to promoting practical cooperation and advancing digitalization in transport and transit procedures, as outlined in the Samarkand Declaration of the OTS Summit held on November 11, 2022.