President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Hossein Selahvarzi says the Iran Chamber is ready to host the secretariat of the TIR carnet issuers of the ECO region.
Selahvarzi made the remarks in a meeting in Tehran with Secretary General of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) Umberto de Pretto.
He also said that the Iran Chamber of Commerce is seeking to host an international transportation meeting in 2024 with participation of regional countries, especially the Persian Gulf states.
Selahvarzi said that this international meeting would seek to introduce TIR carnets as an international customs and transit document so as to be used among these countries.
He also hailed the IRU efforts to solve the problems of the Iranian truck drivers for receiving visas in the European Union, adding that the Iran Chamber of Commerce stands ready to further facilitate this trend.
Selahvarzi noted that the Iran Chamber of Commerce has been the world’s top issuer of TIR carnets in the world since 2021 which indicates good cooperation between the Iran Chamber of Commerce and the IRU.
The IRU secretary general, for his part, referred to Iran’s training of 700,000 truck drivers for using TIR carnet services, adding that Iran has been a leading country in this regard.
The most significant thing about TIR carnets is that they cut the cost and time of transportation as he said that a truck which runs under TIR Convention should only be inspected at the origin and destination countries and there would be no problem on the countries along the journey, de Pretto said.
He added that studies show that transportation under TIR Convention cuts time and cost of transportation by 84 and 50 percent respectively.
The official also expressed regret about the suspension of Iran's green insurance as of 2024 and said that IRU will spare no effort to reduce the problems arising from this suspension.