In her speech, she raised the issue of how fragmented approaches and procedures in transit logistics create hidden barriers that can be more threatening to business than official tariffs. These barriers arise not in one place, but at every stage of the supply chain.
“Differences in customs procedures are not only in their form but also in their logic. Risk management systems are not sufficiently transparent and operate on different principles. Furthermore, data between phytosanitary, border, and customs authorities do not have common access, and processes, both paper and electronic, are often duplicated,” she added.
In practice, this leads to the time required to cross the border varying from 8 to 24 hours, and the same cargo may undergo checks by different services multiple times.
Khayrulloyeva emphasized that one of the most underestimated problems is not the absence of digital solutions, but their fragmentation and inconsistency between states.
“In most Central Asian countries, customs, phytosanitary, and border control systems develop independently. Although there are formally 'single windows', they are not integrated, and there is no unified data format. Electronic documents are often not automatically accepted beyond national borders,” she reported.
Proposing a solution, Khayrulloyeva called for a transition from fragmented digitalization to regional digital integration, where data can be exchanged between countries via APIs, as well as the use of unified standards—documents, codes, and digital registries.
She highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships, where the government sets the rules, requirements, and cybersecurity issues, while the private sector is responsible for the architecture of solutions and API integration.
In her opinion, the results of such cooperation should be evaluated based on specific indicators, including transit time, the number of checks, and the cost of logistics operations.
