A new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) analyses issues related to port-hinterland sustainable transport connectivity for landlocked developing countries. It provides concrete recommendations to countries in the region, including the use of TIR and eTIR.
The port-hinterland transport connectivity in many landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) in the ESCAP region remains weak. This is mainly due to inefficient interfaces between the Asian Highway network, the Trans-Asian Railway network, dry ports in LLDCs and seaports in transit countries.
In several countries, border and customs formalities for transit goods are overly complex, leading to excessive delays at gateway ports.
The new report recognises that TIR facilitates border-crossing procedures and supports transit movement between regions. eTIR brings additional security and risk management opportunities and reduces the administrative burden. It also helps to streamline transit procedures.
The report acknowledges that TIR is a constantly evolving system and has been integrating new facilitation possibilities, which bring benefits to both public and private sectors without jeopardising the system’s security.
One such example is the use of TIR in conjunction with the authorised consignor and consignee procedures.
In view of the above, the report urges LLDCs in the ESCAP region to:
- join the TIR Convention (for countries which are not party to the Convention yet)
- join eTIR projects and support transition from paper-based TIR to eTIR
- consider introducing and supporting simplified customs transit procedures in conjunction with TIR.
IRU is working with a range of countries across the ESCAP region on exploring the potential of TIR.