Lacking direct sea access, landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) face significant barriers in trade, connectivity and development. Their trade costs are up to 74% higher than the global average and it can take twice as long to move goods across borders compared to coastal countries. As a result, landlocked nations are left with just 1.2% of world trade.

For LLDCs, efficient and sustainable transport systems and trade corridors are not just a convenience—they are a lifeline. They offer practical solutions to reconnect economies, improve resilience, and generate inclusive growth, noted UNECE Deputy Executive Secretary Dmitry Mariyasin at the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) in Awaza, Turkmenistan (5 – 8 August 2025).

UNECE instruments and tools to ensure LLDCs prosperity and growth

Promoting prosperity and growth through connectivity lies at the heart of UNECE’s mandate. In Awaza, the Deputy Executive Secretary highlighted several UNECE legal instruments, digital solutions, and infrastructure frameworks that can help LLDCs to improve cross-border transit, foster seamless digital data exchange, and adopt circular economy.  

These include more than 60 UN conventions and agreements on transport and border-crossing facilitation, and nearly 50 policy recommendations on trade facilitation and over 950 information exchange standards, connecting Europe with Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. Implemented by over 150 countries, they cover all modes of inland transport, simplify customs procedures and data exchange, promote cooperation between border agencies, foster trade facilitation and regional cooperation, and ensure transparency and predictability for operators.

Speaking at high-level panels and sessions, including those co-organized by UNECE, the Government of Turkmenistan, Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing Countries (OHRLLS) and World Trade Organization (WTO), Mr. Mariyasin highlighted the following UNECE instruments: 

• TIR Convention and eTIR
• CMR Convention and eCMR Protocol
• Unified Railway Law Convention
• UNECE infrastructure agreements AGC, AGTC and AGR and the International Transport Infrastructure Observatory (ITIO-GIS.org)
• UNECE policy recommendations for trade facilitation
• UN/CEFACT norms and standards for  electronic business

They provide legal certainty, technical coherence, and a common language to help countries develop an interoperable, safe, and sustainable foundation for trade and transport, as well infrastructure—an area of particular importance for LLDCs. 

To support the development of physical transport infrastructure, LLDCs are encouraged to accede to and implement the UNECE infrastructure agreements—the AGR (roads), AGC (railways), and AGTC (combined transport)—which define strategic international corridors and guide coordinated infrastructure investment across regions. All these agreements can be visualized using the ITIO-GIS.org platform, which offers transport corridor mapping and other geospatial analysis tools to support planning and decision-making essential for LLDCs.

A key example is the UNECE Convention on the Contract for International Carriage of Goods by Rail—the first in a system of Unified Railway Law (URL) Conventions— which stands out as a powerful tool to achieve legal harmonization as it establishes a single legal regime for international rail freight from Asia to Europe, avoiding reconsignment, improving time and cost efficiency, and enhancing the overall competitiveness.

To support the digital infrastructure development, LLDCs are encouraged to contribute to UN/CEFACT’s work, including the development of the policy recommendation on enhancing digital connectivity along trade and transport corridors.

“Many of the challenges within the transport sector - are shared by all countries – the UK included. The challenge that is laid down for all of us is to find ways to work together, to find solutions, to innovate, to improve data and evidence, to learn across regions and to collaborate,” said Stephen Conlon, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Turkmenistan, taking part in the high-level panel on "Transport corridors for economic development and trade facilitation" organized by WTO and UNECE. 

“Türkiye is proud to serve as a vital transit hub for LLDCs, using systems like TIR/eTIR and CMR/eCMR to deliver faster, more secure, and more reliable trade routes across regions. Our latest cooperation involving these instruments includes pilot truck runs under TIR in transit from Türkiye through Iraq to Jordan and Kuwait, as well as ongoing discussions with Azerbaijan on the use of eCMR. By advancing digital transit solutions and deepening regional connectivity, we are strengthening economic ties and supporting inclusive, sustainable development,” said Ayşe Nur Yücel, Connectivity Assistant at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Türkiye, during a UNECE-led side event on “Leveraging eTIR, eCMR, and UN/CEFACT Standards to Support Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs).

Digitalization and climate resilience

Efficient and digitally enabled corridors can help LLDCs to overcome geographic disadvantages by providing predictable, efficient transit routes that open access to global markets and enable economic diversification.

On this front, the policy recommendations and global standards for electronic data and document exchange developed by UNECE-hosted UN/CEFACT can streamline border procedures, automate checks, and cut costs. They underpin the SPECA Digitalization Roadmap for the Trans-Caspian Corridor, under which regional countries, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, are already piloting electronic exchange of multimodal transport data. They also support the concept of multimodal digital corridors using the UN/CEFACT to increase the efficiency of LLDCs freight trade, which all countries are invited to use.

UNECE is also developing a new policy recommendation on enhancing digital connectivity along transit corridors, focusing on LLDC needs. Furthermore, its Public-Private Partnership Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS) helps countries to prepare and evaluate infrastructure projects with a focus on long-term sustainability, climate resilience, and environmental, social, and governance criteria.    

Climate-induced shocks – such as extreme heat, flooding and landslides – pose a direct threat to LLDCs’ transport and trade infrastructure, risking economic isolation, supply chain disruptions, and increased trade costs.    

Various UNECE instruments – especially the Water Convention with its focus on sustainable water management and the Stress Test Framework for Evaluating the Resilience of Transport System – can help LLDCs to evaluate and adapt to emerging risks, and build climate-resilient corridors, noted the Deputy Executive Secretary at the roundtable on vulnerability to climate change and disasters.

The role of multilateralism and partnerships  

Across all these efforts, partnerships and multilateralism remain essential. Ensuring robust transit transport systems and trade facilitation in LLDCs, fostering their economic diversification, building resilience to external shocks, and mobilizing the necessary financial resources for sustainable development require trust, cooperation, and long-term commitment among governments, regional bodies, international organizations, development banks, and the private sector.  

These messages were confirmed during the Deputy Executive Secretary’s bilateral meetings with high-level representatives of the European Union, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

During the conference, the Deputy Executive Secretary also had an opportunity to meet with several high-level officials of the Government of Turkmenistan, including Rashid Meredov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the growing cooperation between UNECE and Turkmenistan and re-affirm support to Turkmenistan’s chairmanship of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) in 2025. The SPECA Week will take place in Ashgabat on 25-28 November 2025, co-organized by the Government of Turkmenistan and UNECE.