President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam Hossein Shafei said on Monday that the Chamber of Commerce stands ready to launch a world secretariat for TIR guaranteeing associations.
During a meeting in Tehran with Secretary General of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) Umberto de Pretto, Shafei elaborated on Iran’s strategic position in regional transport and its access to the high seas.
Iran Chamber of Commerce president noted that expansion of transit cooperation is of special significance for Iran both in cross-border transit with neighbors and beyond and this even gains more importance as Iran has assumed presidency of ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO CCI).
He also said that Iran is fully prepared to host a first consultative meeting of TIR guaranteeing association among ECO member countries.
Shafei said that expansion of Iran’s rail transport and renovation of the county’s transport system have been on the agenda of the Iranian annual budget plan and the country’s five-year development plan as well.
Iran is eager to expand hybrid transportation system so as to help boost regional trade by making maximum use of different corridors.
In the meantime, the IRU secretary general hailed Iran’s role in enhancement of regional transit. He said that the Iranian authorities were seeking to boost trade even amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
While trade and transport were affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 in most world countries, Iran made a 68% growth in international transport in 2021 and a 100% growth in domestic transport, de Pretto said.
Referring to challenges to main world transit corridors due to the impacts of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the official said that it is a good opportunity for Iran to activate its strategic transit potentials.
He also described IRU plans for digitalizing all TIR carnet issuance processes and said that Iran has been a leading country in this regard.
Referring to the successful implementation of the first international hybrid digital TIR transport between India and Iran, he said that the Europeans talks about digitalizing but you did it in practice.
He noted that Iran is the world number one issuer of TIR carnets and keeping this position requires further activities and more cooperation of Iranian customs officials.
Noting that a main part of Iran’s hybrid trade is being made through Bandar Abbas Port in southern country, de Pretto said that during his stay in Tehran, he will have meetings with Iranian state officials to help facilitate TIR carnet issuance in Bandar Abbas.
He also thanked Iran Chamber of Commerce for holding training courses for an Iraqi delegation of road transport authorities on implementation of the international transport mechanism and expressed hope that Iraq will soon sign a document for accession to TIR Convention which he said would benefit all the regional countries.
The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on expansion of road transport in the end of the meeting.
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