PTJBC welcomes revival of Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad road corridor

KARACHI: Amjad Rafi, Chairman of Pakistan-Turkish Joint Business Council of FPCCI has warmly welcomed and appreciated the move by NLC that obtained permission by land route from TIR for transportation of goods from Pakistan to Turkey.

“This will not only save shipment time but freight cost will also come down which has increased more than five times by sea at present. This was a long pending ‘recommendation’ of PTJBC in all joint meetings and other relevant forums. If this goes through, in the longer run CIS countries on one side and Europe on the other will be accessible through land route,” Amjad Rafi said.

It may be mentioned here that Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) road corridor is going to be revived by the National Logistic Cell (NLC) to perform the first commercial run by transporting high-value products from Pakistan to Turkey in the last week of this month. The revival of the ITI road corridor will improve and strengthen the regional connectivity of Pakistan with Iran and Turkey.

The NLC is well prepared to start transporting high-value products loaded in 40-feet containers on three trailers from Islamabad to Istanbul via Taftan, Zahidan and Tehran. It will be the first commercial run to revive the ITI-road corridor. High-value products are packed and sealed properly and generally transported from one place to another through containers so as to ensure their safe delivery to receivers.

These products include textile-related equipment, raw material, electronics, plastic, household items, computers, home appliances, non-perishable food items, dry fruit, furniture and carpets etc.

For regional transport operations and connectivity, the national flag carrier, NLC, had been granted last month the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) license/ admission by the Pakistan National Authorization Committee of International Transport Union. Under the TIR admission, the NLC has been allowed for the movement of cargo across the borders without procedural hiccups.

According to PTJBC Chairman, Turkey is a gateway to the European countries, with a huge textile-raw material requirement (Denim, yarn, etc) and Pakistan, which is playing an important role in fulfilling this requirement, would be able to transport its goods to Europe much before Bangladesh. The service will be beneficial for both, exporters and importers as shipments presently taking around a month to reach the final destinations would now take only 10 days, Amjad Rafi added.—PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021