Uzbekistan and Moldova to switch to a permit-free transportation system

2025-09-02

According to the statement of the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan, from 2026 Uzbekistan and Moldova will abolish the rule of exchange of permits for transit and bilateral road freight transportation - the two countries will switch to a permit-free system.

A permit-free system of freight transportation will be put into effect between Uzbekistan and Moldova, in fact, these countries will no longer need to carry out routine operations, exchange of road permit forms with the involvement of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and their subsequent distribution to carriers. Moreover, unnecessary bureaucratic and corrupt actions associated with manual filling out of documents and their subsequent distribution will be avoided.

As noted in the statement, an alternative branch of the Trans-Caspian route passes through Uzbekistan, which provides transportation between Asian and European countries bypassing Russia. Thus, for Uzbekistan it opens the way to Europe, and for Moldova - to Asia.

The process of abolishing permits, that is, introducing an electronic permit exchange system, is currently underway intensively among many states in the Eurasian space at the bilateral (bilateral) level.

By introducing a permit-free system, states actually think of saving road carriers the cost of permits and, most importantly, the time associated with obtaining a permit from a particular country from the time the carrier fills out the application until it is received.

Georgia began to transition to a permit-free system with neighboring countries in 2009 and was associated with the liberal policy of K. Bendukidze (Minister of Economy) in the automotive sector. During that period, it became possible to introduce a permit-free system with Kazakhstan and Armenia. Later, it was intended to spread this process to all countries in the region, but the change in the country's political course radically changed the liberal approaches, and later, Georgia abolished the unauthorized system with the Kazakh side and currently operates only with Armenia.

According to carriers, using the unauthorized system when carrying out transportation in Armenia saves Georgian carriers from 3,000 to 4,000 GEL annually.

Naturally, the question arises, what strategy will Georgia have regarding the liberalization of the road transportation market?

Source: transcor.ge