Tajik government agencies, businesses and international organizations have agreed to launch pilot projects aimed at introducing paperless cross-border trade.
The agreement was reached at an interagency meeting held on July 28 at Tajikistan’s Agency for Innovation and Digital Technologies. The event was organized jointly with the Association of E-Commerce Participants of Tajikistan, or AECPT.
The meeting brought together representatives of the Customs Service, Tax Committee, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Single Window state institution, private companies and international organizations.
Participants included representatives of CIPE, the OSCE, the International Trade Centre, the International Finance Corporation, the Asian Development Bank, GIZ, the World Bank and DCC.
Three pilot projects agreed
Participants supported a transition from paper documents and disconnected information systems to a unified digital framework based on the principle of entering data once and using it across multiple government systems.
The electronic invoice, or e-Invoice, is expected to become a central element of the system.
Three priority pilot projects were agreed upon.
The first will integrate the systems of the Tax Committee, Customs Service, Ministry of Transport and Single Window. Information from electronic invoices will automatically be used to prepare applications through the Single Window, customs declarations and electronic consignment notes, or e-CMR documents, using the Smart Bridge digital infrastructure.
The second project will connect the Green Logistics portal operated by Mavsim i K LLC with the relevant government agencies. The platform will be used to process cross-border import and export transactions in both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer sectors.
The third pilot will introduce cash-on-delivery payments in cooperation with the Tax Committee, using electronic receipts.
The projects are intended to support the implementation of a government action plan on simplifying cross-border paperless trade procedures, approved by Resolution No. 552 of October 31, 2025.
Businesses still submit the same data repeatedly
A policy brief presented at the meeting said businesses are still required to submit the same information several times to different state agencies.
According to the document, information systems used by the tax authorities, customs, banks and transport agencies remain poorly integrated, while many trade procedures are still paper-based.
The burden is particularly significant for small and medium-sized businesses, women entrepreneurs and companies exporting goods for the first time.
Participants said the transition to paperless trade could reduce customs-clearance times for low-risk shipments from several days to a few minutes.
It is also expected to improve transparency and tax collection, reduce administrative costs for businesses and strengthen Tajikistan’s position in international trade-facilitation rankings.
The next steps include establishing a working group, preparing technical requirements and launching the first pilot projects.
AECPT said paperless trade should not be viewed simply as replacing paper documents with digital versions, but as a long-term institutional reform affecting the competitiveness of Tajikistan’s economy and its participation in regional digital trade corridors.
