LAHORE: In a bid to revive the Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) road corridor, the National Logistic Cell (NLC) is all set 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, Dawn has learnt.

“In last week of this month, we are 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 our first commercial run to revive the ITI-road corridor,” NLC General Manager Shoaib Khakwani told Dawn on Saturday.

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.

NLC to do the job in a bid to revive Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad road corridor

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 Auth­orisation 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.

Since the TIR admission is considered to be quite important to boost international trade, the NLC will have a leading role in revival of the corridor by undertaking the TIR operations to Turkey and other countries.

“The goods sealed / packed after necessary legal procedures (security, customs, etc) will not be checked on the way, as these, once loaded, would be opened only at the final destination under the TIR admission,” Mr Khakwani maintained. He said the service would be much beneficial for the exporters, especially the textile ones whose shipments are presently taking around a month to reach the final destinations, would now take only 10 days.

The NLC general manager said Turkey, a gateway to the European countries, had 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.

“We (The NLC), following the government’s vision of establishing regional connectivity, want to contribute in increasing the regional trade to strengthen Pakistan’s economic stability, as the TIR status we have achieved is the key for the growth of local industry,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2021