Séminaire de l’IRU sur la gestion des entreprises de transport routier - Halim Mete

Turkish version

Halim Mete, TOBB Deputy Secretary General
Benefits of the TIR System

ESTEEMED GUESTS,

In recent years, world trade volume has dramatically increased as a result of globalization.

The world trade volume which was $1 trillion in 1990, increased to roughly $6 trillion in the year 2000 and steeped to $12 trillion in the last year.

In parallel to developments that took place in world trade in the recent years, the global capital that accumulated in developed countries has been directed to developing countries and mainly Asia. Big corporations are investing in these countries due to their low costs and the manufactured products are marketed to developed and developing countries.

These developments have also caused international haulage to become a key element of world trade. Because trade goods need to be transported in some way and trade has to be effectively realised.

In addition, land haulage has come to the forefront due to the occupancy of heavily used sea ports as well as time and cost advantages; and the issue of facilitating land haulage with the search of new land corridors has begun to be discussed.

Esteemed Participants;

The haulage industry is very important for our country which lies upon the land, sea and air routes where the three continents meet.

Especially our international land haulage fleet is among the world’s top fleets with its capacity of approximately 40.000 vehicles. Almost 40 percent of our foreign trade is realized through roads. While in the early 80s Turkey’s share in word trade was 0.2 percent, this ratio has increased to 0.9 percent in the last 3 years due to the rapid increase in world trade, and as a result, our international land haulage industry carries a yearly import and export load that amounts to over $70 billion.

It can also be understood from these figures that the importance of land haulage for our country is undisputed. Therefore, it is extremely important to lift the barriers that hamper international trade and land haulage.

Thus, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, which constitutes the roof for the Turkish private sector, is fully aware of the importance of these issues and is always prepared to undertake its responsibilities and take necessary actions.

Esteemed Participants,

In international hauling the presence of international conventions is highly important. Because these conventions eliminate the difficulties that may arise due to bureaucracy and the differences in legislations in different countries, and greatly facilitates international trade.

One of the most important conventions in the field of international haulage is the TIR Convention of the United Nations. The TIR System, which is executed according to this Convention, enables trade goods to pass through borders and be processed in a swift and easy manner.

In the TIR System, the collection of customs taxes, duties and charges by governments from internationally hauled goods is guaranteed. In addition, the fact that physical controls in the transit passage customs of countries have been reduced to a minimum, has reduced bureaucracy in customs formalities and the selection of certain places for in customs formalities has enabled the more effective distribution of customs officers to their duty posts for import and export procedures.

Minimum intervention to land haulage companies during border crossings as well as the reduction of delays and costs to a minimum, the use of simple and standard TIR Carnets and the fact that the deposit required for customs guarantee during border crossings are not taken from vehicles included in the system, makes the TIR System an indispensable element for not only the foreign trade of countries but also for the entire hauling sector.

Due to the nature of the system, it is undisputed that the public and private sectors are required to cooperate to run the TIR System. The structure that is based on International TIR Convention and IRU, and a guarantee chain composed by international and national insurers, also requires an effective private and public sector cooperation between the public administration of countries and the IRU and members that have private sector representatives.

Esteemed Participants,

Our Union, which is also and active member of the IRU, is the guarantor establishment of Turkey since 1966 in accordance with the TIR Convention. In 2006, 700.000 carnets that made up roughly 20 percent of the TIR carnets issued around the worlds, have been used by Turkish haulage companies under the guarantee of our Union. The liability of guarantee we undertook for TIR carnets only in 2006 has reached $35 billion.

According to this statistic, our Union is the establishment that provides the highest number of TIR carnets to sector companies in the world. In other words, Turkey is the country that uses the TIR System the most.

The TIR System has an important function regarding our exports. According to last year’s figures, approximately 90 percent of the export trips made to countries that apply the System have been made under the TIR System. Therefore, we can easily say that the TIR System has contributed to the steep increase in our country’s exports, and as a result trade volume, in recent years.

In the forthcoming period, together with the acceleration in efforts to revitalize the historic Silk Road, India, Pakistan and China as well as countries in the Arab peninsula are expected to participate in the TIR Convention, which is accepted to be the most successfully applied convention among the United Nations Conventions.

As a result of the mentioned developments, a TIR system that enables haulage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Wall of China and the Indian Ocean, will become even more important for world trade. Especially our countries that area the historic Silk Road, will have the possibility of even more increasing their effectiveness and commercial cooperation in the region.

Since the TIR system on the one hand facilitates haulage and trade and on the other hand provides possibilities in parallel to global economy, I believe that it is extremely important and necessary to develop the system by supporting it in participant countries and also expanding it to countries that have not yet participated in the system.

I would like to take this opportunity to express that, as the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, we have and will continue to support the efforts of the IRU, and the IRU Regional and Middle East Standing Delegation in Istanbul regarding the expansion of the TIR System in Asia and the Middle East. .

Esteemed Participants,

As I finish my words, I would like to express that we will be very pleased to see you again at the 31st IRU World Conference to be held in Istanbul between May 15-16 2008 with the cooperation of our Union, UND and TOFED;

and salute you on behalf of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.

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