IRU underlined how TIR would completely transform transit procedures along Africa’s Northern Corridorat a workshop in Kenya last week.

Implementing the tried and tested UN TIR Convention would boost trade by eliminating a range of processes and costs along the Corridor, whilst providing Customs administrations with a cast iron guarantee on the duties owing on the goods.

As East Africa’s key trade route, the Corridor links the port of Mombasa with Nairobi and the rest of Kenya’s hinterlandas well as landlocked Burundi, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. In 2014, some 30 million tonnes of goods moved through the port of Mombasa alone, excluding transhipment.

 IRU was invited by Mr Donat Bagula, Executive Secretary of the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), to participate in the workshop aimed at taking a strategic look at Corridor performance and validating the 7th edition of their Transport Observatory Report.

The report compiles data on 31 different performance indicators covering road, rail, pipeline, port capacity, efficiency, transit times, delays, and costs. It is a vital tool that provides Corridor decision-makers with the necessary evidence to continuously improve trade facilitation performance.