In a major development, the first truck carrying commodities from Pakistan has reached Turkey, days after the commencement of Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) operations.

The development was shared by Advisor to Prime Minister on Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Tuesday. “I am very pleased to announce that under the TIR treaty, the first NLC truck transporting commodities from Pakistan reached Turkey via Iran," he tweeted.

The advisor informed that the NLC truck left Karachi on September 28 and reached Istanbul on October 7, covering a distance of 5,300 kilometres.

“This is the beginning of a new era of connectivity under the Ministry of Commerce regional connectivity policy,” said Dawood, urging exporters to avail the facility as it “will save cost and time as well.”

Last month, the National Logistics Cell (NLC), one of Pakistan’s biggest multimodal logistics organisations, initiated TIR operations for Turkey and Azerbaijan.

In April, Pakistan sent its first-ever TIR consignment carrying herbal medicines by Afghanistan to Uzbekistan. Whereas in August, Pakistan exported its first mango consignment to Russia via road, under the TIR. The mango consignment left Pakistan via the Taftan/Mirjawa border with Iran.

Pakistan’s NLC commences TIR operations for Turkey, Azerbaijan

The TIR Convention is an international customs transit system that facilitates trade by expediting border checks between countries. Pakistan entered the TIR Convention in 2016 and was declared as a ‘TIR Operational Country’ by the IRU (International Road Transport Union) in April 2018.