BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The transit corridor between Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan has been launched via the transfer of two trucks from Iran to Afghanistan and from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, the director general of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration’s (IRICA) Transit Bureau Mostafa Ayati said, Trend reports citing IRICA.
The director general stressed that the trucks started moving from the Shahid Rajaee port of Hormozgan Province (southern Iran) to Uzbekistan.
The director general added that this step was taken after the successful launch of the KTAI corridor (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran) on August 5.
According to Ayati, increasing of the number of transit corridors to Central Asia via Afghanistan is beneficial for Iran in terms of both distance and cost.
Ayati noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran has a short distance for the transit of CIS products through international waters.
"Iran implemented the eTIR project with Turkey in 2017 and with Azerbaijan in 2019. Iran implemented the Slovenia-Iran cargo transportation project in 2017, and the India-Iran-Afghanistan cargo transportation project in 2019. At the same time, Iran has increased opportunities for transit activists through the KTAI corridor,” he said.
The official emphasized that the development of transit will not only increase revenues, but also lead to the development of regional trade relations.
As many as 76 countries have signed the UN Global Transit System TIR Convention. These countries have agreed to facilitate the foreign trade and movement of products across the border through the eTIR system. The system will allow about 5 million trucks to cross the border quickly each year. The eTIR system reduces the time spent at border crossings by about 80 percent and costs by 38 percent.