In a bid to fortify Qatar’s land transport and unlock further avenues of trade, Qatar has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), which outlines a roadmap for potential collaboration between the two signatories.

IRU is the global industry association for road transport that focuses on driving sustainable mobility of people and goods across the planet.

Qatar’s Minister of Transport and Communications, His Excellency Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti and IRU Secretary General, Umberto de Pretto, signed the MoU in Geneva at IRU’s headquarters.

Qatar, IRU Sign MoU to Boost Cooperation in Land Transport pic.twitter.com/9H8z1I9dJ1

— المواصلات والاتصالات (@MOTC_QA) January 25, 2019

Aimed to serve as an impetus to Qatar’s road transport industry, the MoU will see the development of a number of land transport projects that embrace international standards and best industry practices, reported the Qatar Tribune.

The MoU demonstrates Qatar’s keenness to enhance its relations with United Nations’ transportation bodies by means of collaborative projects, HE Al-Sulaiti highlighted on the occasion. [ministry].

In addition to consolidating Qatar’s existing land transport sector, the MoU will encourage knowledge transfer and localize the country’s capacities to build a sustainable land transport sector, HE the Minister is quoted to have said by Gulf Times.

While the MoU is expected to put in place a number of standards, policies and procedures on par with those held internationally, it will also endeavor to improve safety levels of road transport for passengers and goods in Qatar.

Another agreement between Qatar Chamber (QC) and the General Authority of Customs was signed at IRU, which marks QC as the TIR national guaranteeing and issuing association in Qatar.

The agreement was signed by QC Board Member, Eng Ali Abdul Latif Al Misnad, and General Authority of Customs Chairman, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Jamal, in the presence of HE Al-Sulaiti and the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the UN Office in Geneva, HE Ambassador Ali Khalfan Al-Mansouri, and QC Director General, Mr. Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi.

According to Al Misnad, Qatar’s accession to TIR system comes in the context of streamlining trade, reducing costs and shipping for traders, and will have a positive impact on consumers, while facilitating the land transportation of goods and commodities to and from Qatar. The deal is expected to decrease export costs and hence the commodity prices in Qatar, reported Gulf Times.

Qatar became the 73rd country to have ratified the UN TIR Convention in January last year. The Convention serves as the global standard for customs transit to facilitate trade and secure movements of goods across its borders.

This was an important milestone for Qatar as it endeavors to improve road and multimodal transport across the region and unite with the global transport and trade model.

--

Make sure to check out our social media to keep track of the latest content. 

Instagram - @qatarliving

Twitter - @qatarliving

Facebook - Qatar Living

Cover Image Credit: IRU