Qatar recently deposited its instruments of accession to the TIR Convention, which will come into force for the State this July 25, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has said.
By doing so, Qatar has become the 73rd contracting party to the United Nations (UN) TIR Convention, the only global Customs transit system, to facilitate trade and the seamless and secure movement of goods across its borders.
In a statement yesterday, the MoTC emphasised that Qatar’s accession to the TIR Convention would allow its land transport fleet and other land shipping modes to move to ports and harbours of TIR Convention countries by RoRo (roll-on/roll-off) ships, move by land to where goods are released in any TIR countries, and ship and transport goods on the same track to Qatar.
The new system will enable free movement for land transport modes that belong to those countries when shipping goods from or to Qatar, the ministry said, adding that this will contribute to saving transport costs significantly thanks to removing transaction fees for those goods, in addition to reducing transport duration from countries of origin to Qatar.
The only global Customs transit system for moving goods across international borders, TIR, or Transports Internationaux Routiers, has been supporting trade and development for over 60 years by allowing Customs-sealed vehicles and freight containers to transit countries with minimal border checks, the MoTC explained.
It is governed by the UN TIR Convention, which is hosted by the UNECE and managed by the world road transport organisation, IRU.
The TIR Convention, which came into effect in 1975, facilitates the transport of goods between countries. It now has 73 contracting parties covering the whole of Europe, and reaches out to Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.
The TIR Convention is expanding rapidly, with Pakistan, China and India, which are home to almost 40% of the world population, acceding to the convention within the last three years alone, the statement adds.
Gulf Times
29/01/2018
