TIR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ECO REGION NEIGHBOURHOOD Tehran, 26
October 2014 Marek Retelski Head TIR and Trade Facilitation
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2 UAE: almost TIR operational CHINA: on the way to TIR
accession RUSSIA: state of play and next steps TABLE OF
CONTENT
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3 United Arab Emirates Progress step-by-step to start TIR
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4 UAE = Contracting Party since 2007 ATCUE = IRU Member since
2012 Guarantee agreement signed with Dubai customs in April 2014
Guarantee agreement signed with Abu Dhabi customs in June 2014.
Guarantee agreement signed with Ras Al Khaimah customs in September
2014. 4 more Emirates to follow rapidly to cover all the UAE! TIR
progress in the UAE
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5 Dubai and Abu Dhabi ports offer huge potential for intermodal
transport. Already a lot of Ro-Ro movements between Bandar Abbas
and Dubai Possible influence on neighbouring countries (KSA, Iraq,
Oman, etc.). UAE & Intermodal potential
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6 CHINA: on the way to TIR accession
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7 IRU China History 2002 2005 2008 2010 2011 August 2013 China
Road Transport Association (CRTA) became member of the IRU IRU
EURO-Asian Conference co-organised with Ministry of Transport of
China BeijingBrussels Caravan Joint IRU UN Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) event in Beijing 3-month internship at IRU in Geneva
of representative of China Customs Visit of IRU General Secretary
to Beijing China Customs confirmation to IRU of intention to join
the TIR Convention
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8 2014 Developments Reinforcement of ties with CRTA and China
Customs Regular operational contacts 5 missions to China Customs
visit UNECE, IRU and Turkey Documents WCO TIR training in Chinese
Corrections to 2013 Chinese TIR Handbook and TIR Convention (in
progress) TIR and IRU promotional material
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9 Border with 14 countries including with 6 TIR Contracting
parties, i.e. Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrghizstan,
Tajikistan,Afghanistan Volume of trade in 2013: US$ 4.16 trillion
Volume of trade by road transport in 2013: US$ 40 billion 1,400
companies doing international transports 26,800 vehicles used for
international transports China general information 1400
international transport operators 14 bordering countries 6 TIR
bordering countries 35 million tons transported by road
internationally
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10 Bilateral/multilateral agreements with 15 countries No
bilateral agreements with most of TIR operational countries
Operators from some countries have concerns: competition, unfair
treatment Chinese transport companies work mainly at national
market Bilateral and Multilateral agreements
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11 Chinas bilateral/multilateral agreements
CategoryRegionCountries and Year Bilateral North and Northeast Asia
Mongolia (1991), Russia(1992), North Korea(2008) Central Asia
Kazakhstan(1992), Uzbekistan(1993) Kyrgyzstan(1994),
Tajikistan(2008) South and Southeast Asia Pakistan(1993)
Nepal(1994) Vietnam(1994) Laos(1993) Multi- lateral Central Asia
China-Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan(1995)
China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan(1998) Southeast Asia
China-Laos-Myanmar-Thailand-Vietnam-Cambodia ( GMS, 2002)
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12 TIR, Silk Road, SCO and Regional Cooperation Transportation
infrastructure and facilitation is on top of the priority list of
the Silk Road Economic Belt China, Mongolia and Russia in September
vowed to build China- Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, where
transportation facilitation is a key tool At SCO Summit in
September 2014, the agreement on transport system was signed. Where
more efforts will be made on road transport facilitation and
infrastructure
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13 Strong leadership by China (Silk Road, Go West) Investments
in infrastructure (highways and rail-road intermodal terminals)
Problems linked to maritime transport (overcapacity, increasing
waiting times in ports, etc) Development of trade between China and
Central Asia Opportunities for road transport between China and
Europe for: High value goods Perishable goods Refrigerated goods
Opportunities for Road Transport
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14 Intermodal Transport between China, ECO region and Europe
(China has 7 out of 10 biggest ports in the world, Shanghai = 32
million containers per year) China accession will influence other
Asian countries Other Possible Developments
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15 TIR System in Russia: State of play and next steps
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16 UN supports TIR
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17 EU supports TIR
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18 Russian Ministry of Transport supports TIR As a result: 26
August 2014 Ministry of Transport Addressed FCS with a letter about
the results of the meeting, highlighting the Importance of TIR for
The Russian Federation and stressing the constructive IRU position
and necessity to hold trilateral meeting between Mintrans, IRU and
FCS Constructive meetings held in Geneva in August between the IRU
and Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Mr. Asaul
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19 Current TIR situation in Russia TIR Carnets accepted: in two
Customs offices of the north-western region, for TIR operations
entering the Customs Union through Belarus or Kazakhstan TIR
terminations in Russia are down by 50% Latest sanctions from Russia
and the EU have an additional negative impact on TIR
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20 Next steps Continue to make TIR more attractive around the
world Monitor progress on Russian tender procedure Russian
Government to take final decision IRU proposed intermediary
solution in line with Russian customs requests Governments from
other Contracting Parties (including ECO) should address Russian
Government