The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has recently announced the implementation of the International Road Transports (TIR) agreement under the TIR system for transit in Qatar, according to the media. As the nation is preparing to host a series of major international events in the coming years, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the TIR will help speed up the supply chain. It will also ensure the secure and timely delivery of goods and services to and from the state and worldwide.
TIR is the only global transit system that allows goods to be shipped from one country to another in sealed load containers controlled by customs through a multilateral, mutually recognised system backed by the UN.
Qatar becomes the fifth member country in the GCC that is running TIR. Apart from moving goods by road, TIR is proven to be an excellent trade facilitation tool for multimodal transports that include roll-on roll-off, container shipments and rail. Transport operators, shippers and business users will be benefitting from the faster, less expensive and more secure trade routes between Qatar and its trading partners in the region and beyond.
HE Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications, addressed the media and said the deployment of the TIR system in the country is a step forward to link Qatar’s transport system regionally and globally. It will increase the trade exchange and support the economic interaction between the countries. It will also boost the government’s work on developing sustainable land transportation to cement the relations between Qatar and UN organisations in transport.
IRU worked closely with Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, General Authority of Customs and the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry to implement the TIR system in the nation.