Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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- Non-physical barriers such as those emerging from restrictive and non-harmonized rules and
regulations continue to significantly hinder the efficiency of Asia-Europe transport;
- Lack of standardization in transport documents.
 Technical standards:
- There are no common norms in the road sector throughout the region with regard to vehicle
weights and dimensions, and existing registration and inspection certificates are not always
mutually recognized;
- When it comes to technical standards, rail transport may be the one transport mode presenting
the greatest disparity;
- More efficient, predictable and consistent procedures at border crossings are needed.
7.1.4 Institutional framework
Organization and characteristics
With no agreements existing yet between the participants, no formal institutions have been
established yet. The initial sessions in which the participants discussed the content of the Central
Corridor were organized byUNESCAP and took place inBeijing (July 2017), Istanbul (September 2017)
and Bangkok (November 2017). The to be established governance institutions were discussed and laid
down in a draft MoU, in which a single management model for all three corridors is proposed, with
separate corridor development committees for each corridor. According to the draft MoU, the
institutional framework should at least foresee the following topics:
 Planning and financing of infrastructure projects;
 Exchange of information between members;
 Technical standards and interoperability;
 Border crossing and customs operation;
 Framework for participating of economic and social partners;
 Ministerial meetings;
 Steering committee;
 Implementation of corridor development.
In terms of formal institutions, proposed are the following:
 Ministerial Meeting: ministers or other government representatives should meet frequently in
order to review the progress made in the development of the corridor and make changes if
necessary. The meetings shall be chaired by the steering committee;
 Steering Committee: the establishment of a committee is proposed which is responsible for
coordinating the work being undertaken for the development of corridor. The committee should be
composed of representatives of each country, and ideally invites social and economic partners, local
authorities or other international organisations to their meetings. Moreover, Working Groups may
be created by the steering committee for specific projects;
 Corridor Transport Observatory (CTO): The CTO should have a permanent seat and facilitates the
communication between member states and other relevant organisations; prepares and updates
action plans; and collects data on the corridor network. It is proposed that the CTO is managed by
the UNESCAP as a neutral body (UN-ESCAP, 2017).