Qatar becomes contracting party to global Customs transit system

Qatarrecently deposited its instruments of accession to the TIR Convention,which will come into force for the State this July 25, the Ministry ofTransport and Communications (MoTC) has said.By doing so, Qatar hasbecome the 73rd contracting party to the United Nations (UN) TIRConvention, the only global Customs transit system, to facilitate tradeand the seamless and secure movement of goods across its borders.In astatement yesterday, the MoTC emphasised that Qatar’s accession to theTIR Convention would allow its land transport fleet and other landshipping modes to move to ports and harbours of TIR Convention countriesby RoRo (roll-on/roll-off) ships, move by land to where goods arereleased in any TIR countries, and ship and transport goods on the sametrack to Qatar.   The new system will enable free movement for landtransport modes that belong to those countries when shipping goods fromor to Qatar, the ministry said, adding that this will contribute tosaving transport costs significantly thanks to removing transaction feesfor those goods, in addition to reducing transport duration fromcountries of origin to Qatar.    The only global Customs transitsystem for moving goods across international borders, TIR, or TransportsInternationaux Routiers, has been supporting trade and development forover 60 years by allowing Customs-sealed vehicles and freight containersto transit countries with minimal border checks, the MoTC explained. It is governed by the UN TIR Convention, which is hosted by the UNECE and managed by the world road transport organisation, IRU.TheTIR Convention, which came into effect in 1975, facilitates thetransport of goods between countries. It now has 73 contracting partiescovering the whole of Europe, and reaches out to Asia, North Africa andthe Middle East. The TIR Convention is expanding rapidly, with Pakistan,China and India, which are home to almost 40% of the world population,acceding to the convention within the last three years alone, thestatement adds.