TIR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ECO REGION NEIGHBOURHOOD Tehran, 26 October 2014 Marek Retelski Head – TIR and Trade Facilitation

2  UAE: almost TIR operational  CHINA: on the way to TIR accession  RUSSIA: state of play and next steps TABLE OF CONTENT

3 United Arab Emirates Progress step-by-step to start TIR

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 Guarantee agreement signed with Ras Al Khaimah customs in September  4 more Emirates to follow rapidly to cover all the UAE! TIR progress in the UAE

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

6 CHINA: on the way to TIR accession

7 IRU – China History August 2013 China Road Transport Association (CRTA) became member of the IRU IRU EURO-Asian Conference co-organised with Ministry of Transport of China Beijing–Brussels 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

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

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

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

11 China’s 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)

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

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

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

15 TIR System in Russia: State of play and next steps

16 UN supports TIR

17 EU supports TIR

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

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

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