With the new President at odds with the military council and parliament being suspended by the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court, outside observers could be forgiven for thinking that trade is low on Egypt’s list of current concerns.
However, the country clearly cannot afford its political upheavals to stand in the way of moves to facilitate and secure its international trade, and plans have been announced for Egypt to join the TIR Convention “in the very near future”.
The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has reported that major public and private stakeholders have met recently to discuss a concrete action plan aimed at speeding up the efforts needed to join the Convention.
The meeting was attended by the country’s Customs Commissioner as well as representatives from the import and export control authority and from the transport industry.
They unanimously agreed on the vital need for Egypt to join, as soon as possible, the major UN trade and road transport facilitation and security instruments, including the Harmonisation and TIR Conventions, to further develop the country’s international trade and to enable it to become a logistic hub for the region.
Adhesion to the TIR Convention would be particularly timely for Egypt, the IRU has pointed out, given the recent launch of regular ferry lines allowing RO-RO (roll-on, roll-off) transports from Turkey to Egyptian ports.
TIR stands for Transports Internationaux Routiers (International Road Transport) and is an international harmonised system of Customs control intended to facilitate trade and transport whilst effectively protecting the revenue of each country through which goods are carried.
