Tuesday, 28 June 2022

09:00-10:00     Opening Ceremony

Master of Ceremony: ICDT

·       Registration of Participants

·       Representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Morocco

·       Representative of  Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)

·       Representative of  Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT)

·       Announcement of Joint Action Plan between (IsDB RCI, ICDT, UNECE)

·       Group Photo

Session I:        The Trans-African Corridors: Challenges and opportunities

Chairperson:  Representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Morocco

The objective of the first session is to illustrate and summarize the main challenges, requirements and operational barriers that border crossings – international transport are facing along the Maghreb – Trans African corridors setting the scene for the implementation of the TIR/CMR Conventions and the benefits that could bring to the Governments, Customs and the private sector.

10:00- 10:15

Representative from United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

10:15-10:30

Representative from United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA)

10:30-10:45

Representative from IsDB

10:45-11:00

Representative from the African Development Bank (AfDB)

11:00-11:30

Discussion

11:30-11:45     Coffee Break

11:45-13:00     Session II: The TIR Convention and its application in Africa

The objective of the second session is to present the TIR convention, illustrate its advantages for the customs authorities and the private sector, analyse its main pillars of operations and requirements for the Governments/customs authorities, the private sector / national associations and the international organization, provide information on how to accede the convention and how to operationalize it in a country as well as the requirements/training is required. 

11:45-12:30       Presentation of the TIR Convention:

What are the main pillars and the main benefits from its application, How to accede to the convention, Application of the Convention along the African Corridors, The TIR Handbook  by Mr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Chief Transport Facilitation and Economics section, TIR Secretary (UNECE)

12:30-13:00      Discussions

13:00-14:30     Lunch Break

 14:30-15:30     Session III: The eTIR international System. The digital TIR

The objective of the third session is to present the electronic TIR, the eTIR international system which is hosted by UNECE, the interconnection projects between the national customs systems and the eTIR international system, the benefits that customs authorities and the private sector do have from its implementation, the future steps  

14:30-15:10   History, High level architecture of eTIR system, Interconnection Projects and next steps by Mr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Chief Transport Facilitation and Economics section, TIR Secretary (UNECE)

15:10-15:30      Debate

15:30-15:45      Coffee Break

 15:45-17:00      Session IV: the CMR Convention  

The objective of the fourth session is to present the contract of carriage, the CMR Convention and its eCMR protocol, the benefits that the countries’ authorities (customs, police, insurance, banks, courts) and the private sector have from its implementation, the facilitation that provides to international transport   

15:45-16:30     Presentation of the CMR Convention, What are the main objectives and the main benefits from its application, How to accede to the convention, Application of the Convention along the African Corridors and The eCMR protocol by Mr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Chief Transport Facilitation and Economics section, TIR Secretary (UNECE)

16:30-17:00    Discussion

Wednesday 29 June 2022

10:00-11:45     Session V: Practical Implementation of the TIR /CMR Conventions

The TIR System is a public-private partnership. The private sector provides the international and national guarantees required for the system to function.  The objective of the fifth session is to present the efforts required to form the private sector in order to operationalize the TIR system in a country. Also, during this session, lessons learned – case studies will be presented by the customs authorities and the private sector regarding the operationalization of the TIR system and the interconnection with the eTIR international system in their countries.

 10:00-11:15

Ms. Tatiana Rey-Bellet

Director – TIR & Transit, International Road Transport Union (IRU)

 ·       Operationalization of TIR system in country

·       The National Road Transport Association

·       The functions of the international guarantee

·       Claims and handling of claims

·       From the TIR Carnets to the electronic guarantees

·       Practical implementation of the CMR Convention

·       The benefits for road transport

11:15-11:45    Discussion

11:45-12:00 Coffee Break

12:00-13:00   Case Studies – Lessons learned 

12:00-12:15

Representative of TOBB Turkey tbc

The implementation of TIR system in Turkey

12:15-12:30

Representative of Tunisian Customs tbc

The interconnection project between the eTIR international system and the national customs systems of Tunisia

12:30-12:45

Representative of Customs of Egypt tbc

Operationalization of the TIR system in the country.

Lessons learned

12:45-13:00

Discussions

13:00-14:30    Lunch Break

Closing Session

 14:30-16:00    Countries interventions – Action Plan – Next Steps 

The main objective of the last session is to hear first of all feedback from the OIC Member States. A very simple questionnaire will be distributed to all participants well before the session. The participants are required to prepare themselves and provide some information during the session regarding those questions which would be relevant to the facilitation of border crossings and international road transport in their respective countries. The floor will be provided to the countries in alphabetical order.  The second part of this session will focus on the next steps. Presentation of the draft action plan, finalization based on countries inputs and closing of the workshop including some final statements.

Scheduled interventions from OIC Member States

Discussion on the action plan and the next steps

Closing remarks (Ministry of Industry and Trade, IsDB RCI, UNECE and ICDT)