Pakistan has taken a key step towards the development of international economic corridors with its regional trading partners and the rest of the world with the ratification of the United Nations TIR Convention.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, acting in his capacity as depositary, informed that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan deposited its instruments of accession to the TIR Convention, 1975, on 21 July 2015. With this act, Pakistan has become the sixty-ninth Contracting Party to the TIR Convention. The Convention will enter into force for Pakistan on 21 January 2016.
The TIR transit system is the only global intermodal customs transit system, constituting a major facilitation tool for both transport and trade. The accession will further foster the opportunities for economic growth and development of Pakistan.
This should help boost regional development and integration, especially along the regional trade corridors linking the 10 members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan) which now all have become TIR Contracting Parties.
UNECE, which hosts the secretariat of the TIR Convention, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the IRU Member association in Pakistan PNC-ICC are working closely with the government of Pakistan to enable the country to become TIR operational in the nearest future.