In anticipation of Iraq’s accession to TIR, Iranian customs and the country’s national TIR association trained an Iraqi delegation from road transport authorities earlier this month in Tehran.
IRU member and Iran’s TIR issuing and guaranteeing association, ICCIMA, organised the training and, along with Iranian customs authorities, informed the Iraqi delegation on TIR procedures, implementation and digitalisation. The delegation also visited a customs office and got a first-hand view of how the authorities manage TIR.
The Iraqi delegation also held a round of high-level bilateral meetings with Iranian customs authorities and the Ministry of Road and Urban Development. They exchanged views on bilateral road transport issues and explored further areas for cooperation.
Last year, ICCIMA became the biggest issuer of TIR carnets, with over 125,000 carnets, closely followed by Turkey and Uzbekistan.
Iraq acceding to TIR
Iraq is the only country in the region that has yet to accede to TIR. The TIR system significantly speeds up border crossing times, secures trade and ensures the payment of customs duties and taxes through a robust guarantee mechanism, thereby reducing trade transaction costs and boosting intra- and inter-regional trade.
The Iraqi parliament approved accession to TIR in late 2019, and the TIR convention was published in the Official Gazette of Iraq in April 2022. The final step remaining for Iraq to become a TIR contracting party is to deposit the instrument of accession to the United Nations.
IRU appreciates ICCIMA’s support in training neighbouring countries and hopes that it will expedite Iraq’s decision to take the final administrative step towards accession to TIR.
