The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM or Middle Corridor, Middle Corridor), connecting China through Central Asia and the Caspian Sea with the Caucasus, Turkey and Europe, demonstrates rapid growth in trade as cargo volumes have moved from other corridors.

In 2022, transit along the Middle Corridor showed a record increase in transit volumes, increasing by 150% compared to 2021. In just one month, from December 2022 to January 2023, container turnover in the Caspian basin increased 5.5 times, according to the website of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) on Wednesday.

The publication talks about accelerating the digitalization of the Middle Corridor with the help of eTIR. As the Director of the IRU TIR and Transit Department Tatiana Rey-Belle noted at a recent meeting of Friends of the Chairman of the TIR Executive Board in Samarkand: "Due to the record growth in trade volumes along the Middle Corridor, the digitalization of international transit is becoming more and more urgent to further improve the safety and efficiency of trade."

"Our common task now is to implement eTIR in accordance with the TIR Convention as soon as possible," she added.

"TRACECA is the most active region of eTIR implementation, and with support at the national level in Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, there are all prerequisites for launching a corridor where TIR transport will be fully electronic," said Asset Asavbayev, Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission, speaking at the meeting.

The meeting was attended by Customs services and national TIR associations from Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the TIRExB, the UNECE TIR Secretariat, IRU, TRACECA, the Directorate of the European Commission for Taxes and Customs Union, GIZ and the Islamic Development Bank.

The eTIR international system is designed to ensure the secure exchange of data between national Customs systems related to the international transit of goods, vehicles or containers, in accordance with the provisions of the TIR Convention (International Road Transport).

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