ISLAMABAD: The first consignment of National Logistic Cell (NLC) left Pak­is­­tan for Turkey and Azer­baijan through Iran, Adviser on Commerce Razak Dawo­­od announced on Friday.

The NLC has started its operations under the Tran­sports Internationaux Rou­tiers (TIR) Convention. The NLC is the second operator in Pakistan, and the first in public sector, to begin its operations under TIR.

It will also be the first time that Pakistan’s trucks would move through Iran under TIR. Previously, goods had to be offloaded from Pakistan’s trucks and reloaded onto Iran’s trucks at the Taftan-Zahidan border.

The NLC was awarded the TIR licence by Pakistan National Authorisation Committee (PNAC) of the International Transport Union (IRU), which administers the TIR Convention internationally.

An official announcement of the ministry said that that one private sector company already has the licence to operate under TIR and many private companies were also applying to get the same.

“The vision of the Ministry of Commerce is ‘Connectivity through Trucking’ and as a policy the government will support the private sector in this regard,” Mr Dawood said.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2021