30th MEETING OF THE BSEC-URTA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The 30^th Meeting of the BSEC-URTA General Assembly was held in Istanbul, Turkey on November 22, 2016 and was honored by the participation of the Deputy Secretary General of the BSEC Organization, H.E. Ambassador Traian Chebeleu, the representative of PABSEC, Mrs Paulina Lozanova, IRU Secretary General, Mr. Umberto de Pretto, AULT Chairman Mr. Malek Haddad and AULT Secretary General Dr. Mahmoud Abdallatt.

General Assembly noted with interest the UND Presentation on challenges and opportunities before inter-regional road transport, which focused on development of combined transport across the Caspian Sea.

General Assembly evaluated the Activity Report on the BSEC-URTA Priorities in 2016, notably in:

- Structural reformation of the BSEC-URTA

- further enlargement of the geographical coverage of the BSEC   Permit, extension of its usage on a voluntary basis to the 3rd country transport and shift from one trip usage by a truck to multiple trips usage by a company

- Continuation of implementation of the International Vehicle Weight Certificate under Annex 8 to the UN Harmonization Convention, 1982

- Implementation of the TIR-EPD Green Lanes, including new TIR tools and products, on the main road transport corridors in the BSEC region

One of the Agendas of the General Assembly was the report of the International Secretariat on State of Affairs of the Cooperation with the AULT including the BSEC-URTA/AULT Joint Action Plan 2016-2017. Welcomed the AULT proposal to organise regular bilateral working meetings to monitor implementation of the Joint Action Plan.

Upon recommendation of the BSEC-URTA Management Council, General Assembly decided to renew the MoU between BSEC-URTA and transport related BSEC Sectoral Dialogue Partners, namely BASPA, BINSA and BRASS, on the occasion of the International Black Sea Transport Forum 2016 in Istanbul on 23 November 2016 and mandated Secretary General and President for its signature.

BSEC-URTA General Assembly on its 30th Meeting elected Ms Asli Gozutok (TOBB) as BSEC-URTA President with the term of office 1 January 2017-31 December 2020, and endorsed the proposal of the new-elected BSEC-URTA President for Mr. Georgy Petarneychev (AEBTRI) as Deputy President for 2017-2018, as well as endorsed the nominations for the positions of two BSEC-URTA Vice-Presidents for 2017-2018 made by ANALTIR (Mr. Ilirjan Mataj) and UNTRR (Mr. Radu Dinescu).

Upon recommendation of TOBB, elected Mr. Vladimir Florea as Honorary President as of 1^st January 2017, when he completes his 10 years of serve as BSEC-URTA President.

 In a conclusion, the Chairman thanked the BSEC PERMIS for the excellent organization of the meeting and the Turkish Member-Associations TOBB and UND for their generous hospitality and kind support extended to all the participants.