BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 25. Southeast Asian
countries are considering TIR to build intermodal connections to
Europe via the Middle Corridor.


The International Road Transport Union’s (IRU) TIR and Transit
System Director, Tatiana Rey-Bellet, said this in an exclusive
interview with Trend,
discussing the wider potential of eTIR and the Middle Corridor as
an alternative to purely maritime routes.


"Already today, South-East Asian countries are considering TIR
to build intermodal connections to Europe via the Middle Corridor
as an alternative to purely maritime routes," she said.


According to Rey-Bellet, the potential of eTIR extends beyond
the Middle Corridor, with digital transit able to link trade
partners through combinations of road, sea and rail transport.


"Beyond the Middle Corridor, eTIR has great potential to link
trade partners through an efficient combination of road, sea and
rail transport," she said.


Rey-Bellet said the successful use of eTIR on a multimodal route
combining road and maritime transport demonstrates that digital
transit can operate across different modes and borders within a
single framework.


"The successful use of eTIR across a multimodal route combining
road and maritime transport demonstrates that digital transit can
work seamlessly across different modes and borders under one
trusted framework," she said.


According to her, countries can benefit from eTIR through the
eTIR National Application developed by the UN Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE), which can be used either as a standalone
solution or integrated into national systems.







"To enable countries to benefit from eTIR without delay, UNECE
has developed the eTIR National Application, a UN open-source tool
that allows customs authorities to use eTIR easily and quickly –
either as a standalone solution or integrated into national
systems," Rey-Bellet said.


According to her, the application provides customs
administrations with a cost-free and practical way to begin
implementing digital transit procedures.


"Furthermore, with the transition to eTIR, the intermodal nature
of the TIR Convention opens new opportunities for all actors across
the supply chain," Rey-Bellet added.


For reference, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) is
the World Road Transport Organisation, representing the interests
of the road transport sector and working on trade facilitation,
transit, customs procedures and the digitalisation of international
road transport.


IRU is closely associated with the TIR system, an international
customs transit system established under the UN TIR Convention. Its
electronic counterpart, eTIR, enables customs authorities to
exchange transit data electronically, including guarantee
information, while supporting advance cargo information and
real-time data exchange.


The latest development marks another step in the gradual
expansion of eTIR across Central Asia. In particular, in July 2026,
eTIR operations were carried out for the first time across the
Caspian Sea - between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and onward to
Uzbekistan - linking all three countries through a single digital
transit procedure, while the first eTIR transport operation between
Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan had been carried out back in December
2022.


The development forms part of wider efforts to digitalise
transport along the Middle Corridor, which links China and Central
Asia across the Caspian Sea with the South Caucasus, Türkiye and
Europe. IRU has previously called for accelerated digitalisation of
transport and trade in Central Asia as transit volumes along the
region's international corridors continue to grow.