The first Working Group meeting on “Electronic TIR system” (eTIR) was organized on 15 June 2021 in the online format in close collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and participation of Customs Authorities of the Turkic Council Member States.
The objective of the working meeting was to bring together the representatives of customs administrations and relevant international organizations to exchange views on simplification of customs and transit procedures through establishing the common e-TIR system in the region.
In his opening statement, Deputy Secretary General of Turkic Council, Mr. Mirvokhid Azimov emphasized that the economic portfolio of Turkic Council includes simplification customs procedures, inter alias by digitalization of transit operations, that can play a central role in bringing its member states together in implementing e-TIR corridor.
Then representatives of customs administrations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan gave information on their national transit systems, current progress made in digitalization of transit procedures and applications of IT tools under TIR procedure, in particular the pilot projects on TIR electronic pre-declaration application (TIR EPD) of International Road Union (IRU) implementing by some Member States (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan).
The Chief of Transport Facilitation and Economics Section, TIR Secretary, Sustainable Transport Division of UNECE, Mr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos made presentation on key developments and actions of UNECE towards eTIR international system. He also shared the international experiences and practices projection in use of the transit systems and digitalization of transport documents, such as eTIR applications and eCMR.
During the program, the Parties exchanged their views on possibilities of interconnecting Member States’ customs information systems with the eTIR international system hosted by UNECE and discussed the further joint steps need to be taken towards its implementation.
Highlighting the successful implementation of eTIR international system project with Turkey and Azerbaijan, UNECE representative underscored the necessity to continue fruitful cooperation in the field of implementation of joint projects on customs transit and transportation with other Member States of Turkic Council to ensure their joining/applying eTIR international system and eCMR, as well as expressed the readiness of UNECE Secretariat to assist in implementation of such projects within the Turkic Council.
