KABUL: The Ministry of Transport has said in the last solar year only 19 truckloads of goods were transported out of Afghanistan in accordance with the Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention).
The ministry also said Afghanistan has played only a minor role in transporting goods to World Road Association (WRA) member countries over land under the TIR transportation system.
“Problems existed, but we are working with a number of government departments to resolve the problems and provide a better context for implementation of the TIR system in the country,” said Hikmatullah Qouanj, a spokesman for the ministry of transport.
For many years Afghanistan has been a member of the World Road Association, but in 1395 only 19 truckloads of goods were granted TIR border passes.
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) meanwhile said this year they have issued three TIR Carnets, but the trucks that were supposed to transfer the goods to Turkey were turned back in Kazakhstan.
“We issued three TIR Carnets to the trucks, but till now it is not clear why these trucks were not allowed to enter the second or third countries. There are lots of problems and we failed to use the opportunities provided by WRA,” said Siam Pesarlay, ACCI spokesman.
Some problems also reported include lack of credentials for drivers in terms of international transportation laws and them not understanding other languages.
