TEHRAN – Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), in a letter to the ministers of Economy, Transport, and Foreign Affairs, has proposed five solutions for increasing transit through the country in the current Iranian calendar year 1402 (started on March 21).

As IRNA reported, Mohammad Rezvanifar has put the total volume of transited goods through the country in the previous year at 12.912 million tons, noting that the figure increased by 2.21 percent.

The official has stressed the need to take new measures to insure the continuation of the current upward trend.

Reduction of the time for issuing the necessary licenses for the passing of foreign goods; improvement and development of transport infrastructures especially at border areas; revision of the directive of the Central Headquarters for Combating Goods and Currency Smuggling in such a way that it would be possible for wagons carrying petroleum products to continue their route while the laboratory results on the products are being prepared; using the diplomatic capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to increase the acceptance of trucks from neighboring countries, especially the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan; and finally, revision of the list of goods that are allowed by the Defense Ministry and the Plant Protection Organization (PPO) to pass through the country, are among the solutions proposed by Rezvanifar in his letter to the mentioned ministers.

The policy of paying attention to neighbors and developing political and economic relations with neighboring countries in the current government, increasing attention to road and rail routes in the world, and the efforts and cooperation of transportation and trade-related organizations in establishing or activating corridors through the country has led to significant growth in transit of goods through Iran.

After seven years of reduction in the transit of goods from the country, the growth path of transit resumed in the Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20, 2022) and with the passage of 12.65 million tons of goods through Iran, a growth of 68 percent was achieved.

Iran is one of the countries with a special status in trade and transit relations due to its strategic location and special geography, as the country is the passage of several important international corridors.

Considering its geographical location, Iran can play a significant role in the transit of goods in the region and benefit a lot from its status in this due.

Paying attention to upstream documents, especially the country's development plans, and the government's decision to develop transit, paying special attention to infrastructure development, reducing transit time, making it cheaper to cross Iran, and making more advantages over competitors, due to the short path for customers, can lead to facilitating the development of transit so that the country can reach the desired growth in this due.

EF/MA