FPCCI lauds road link with Turkey

KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Tuesday appreciated the NLC for obtaining Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) permission to ship goods from Pakistan to Turkey via the Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) road corridor.

NLC would 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 would improve and strengthen the regional connectivity of Pakistan with Iran and Turkey.

FPCCI’s Pakistan-Turkish Joint Business Council (PTJBC) Chairman Amjad Rafi said, “This will not only save shipment time, but freight cost will also come down which has increased more than five times by sea at present.”

He said this was a long pending ‘recommendation’ of PTJBC in all joint meetings and other relevant forums. “If this goes through, in the longer run CIS countries on one side and Europe on the other will be accessible through land route,” Rafi added.

The NLC has 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 would be the first commercial run to revive the ITI-road corridor.

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.