BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 21. The first eTIR
operation connecting Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan is set
to ease a key bottleneck on the Middle Corridor.
The International Road Transport Union’s (IRU) TIR and Transit
System Director, Tatiana Rey-Bellet, said this in an exclusive
interview with Trend,
assessing the significance of the milestone for transit along the
route connecting China and Europe.
"An important bottleneck along the Middle Corridor between China
and Europe is set to be eased with fully digital TIR operations
across the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and on
to Uzbekistan," she said.
According to Rey-Bellet, the development also creates
circumstances for extending digital transit to the full length of
the Middle Corridor.
"With this piece in place, the conditions are now set for the
extension of digital transit to the full length of the corridor
connecting China and Europe," Rey-Bellet said.
The transition to eTIR is expected to eliminate the need for
paper transit documentation for goods moving through the corridor.
Rey-Bellet said this could reduce delays and opportunities for
document loss or fraud, while making border crossings faster and
more predictable for transit countries along the route.
"With eTIR, the goods moving through the corridor will no longer
require paper transit documentation. This means fewer delays, fewer
opportunities of document loss or fraud, and faster, more
predictable border crossings for all transit countries en route,"
she noted.
For reference, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) is
the World Road Transport Organisation, representing the interests
of the road transport sector and working on trade facilitation,
transit, customs procedures and the digitalisation of international
road transport.
IRU is closely associated with the TIR system, an international
customs transit system established under the UN TIR Convention. Its
electronic counterpart, eTIR, enables customs authorities to
exchange transit data electronically, including guarantee
information, while supporting advance cargo information and
real-time data exchange.
The latest development marks another step in the gradual
expansion of eTIR across Central Asia. In particular, in July 2026,
eTIR operations were carried out for the first time across the
Caspian Sea - between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and onward to
Uzbekistan - linking all three countries through a single digital
transit procedure, while the first eTIR transport operation between
Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan had been carried out back in December
2022.
The development forms part of wider efforts to digitalise
transport along the Middle Corridor, which links China and Central
Asia across the Caspian Sea with the South Caucasus, Türkiye and
Europe. IRU has previously called for accelerated digitalisation of
transport and trade in Central Asia as transit volumes along the
region's international corridors continue to grow.
