Five Central Asian and Caucasus countries adopt a single road transit permit

The agreement was signed on 15 May 2026 in Astana, at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission of the TRACECA corridor (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia). It establishes a single transit permit form, valid across the entire territory of the five signatory countries.

In practice, a haulier crossing several of these countries in succession no longer needs to obtain a separate authorisation at each border: the single document covers the whole journey. The stated aim of the signatories is to remove administrative barriers and speed up the flow of goods, by creating what they describe as a green corridor for international transport.

Uzbekistan's Transport Minister, Ilkhom Makhkamov, said this agreement came alongside complementary initiatives to digitise transport procedures and move to paperless formalities. This measure adds to the bilateral digitisation of permits already under way between Azerbaijan and Georgia, and between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, as part of the modernisation of the Middle Corridor between China and Europe.

This affects road hauliers and freight forwarders moving goods by lorry across several of these five countries, notably on the route linking Central Asia to the Caucasus and then the Black Sea; this permit does not replace the customs declaration for goods, which remains due in each destination country.