RIYADH: Syria and Iraq have agreed to electronically link their customs systems, a step meant to streamline procedures, strengthen data-sharing and speed up transactions between the two countries.
According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, the integration is intended to facilitate trade and improve the flow of goods as import, export and transit traffic between the two countries continues to grow.
The two sides also agreed to open the Tanf crossing to passenger traffic as soon as road expansion work is completed and infrastructure upgrades finish on both sides, so the crossing is ready to receive travelers and provide the services they need.
The push to revive cross-border trade has taken on added urgency amid recent regional turmoil. After escalation between the US, Israel and Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz and disrupted major maritime trade routes, Iraq resumed exporting crude oil overland by truck to Syria’s Mediterranean coast for the first time in 15 years, under a bilateral agreement between Iraqi and Syrian authorities, Reuters reported.
Qutaiba Badawi, head of Syria’s General Authority for Land and Maritime Border Crossings and Customs, and Omar Al-Waeli, head of Iraq’s Border Ports Authority, toured the crossing’s new halls at the Tanf crossing, reviewing expansion and rehabilitation work meant to lift its capacity and improve services for travelers and freight carriers, the Syrian authority said via its Telegram channel.
“The two sides affirmed the importance of continuing coordination and following up on the implementation of what has been agreed, in a way that enhances the efficiency of work at the shared border crossings and supports transport, trade exchange and the economic interests of the two countries,” the Syrian authority said in its statement.
Part of a wider regional push
Syria has moved to deepen transport and trade cooperation with several of its neighbors in recent months, as part of a wider push to rebuild connectivity after years of war-driven isolation.
Damascus and Beirut agreed last month on a unified plan to develop transport and rail links and formed a joint technical team to oversee the work.
The agreement was reached during talks in the Syrian capital between Syrian Transport Minister Yarub Badr and Lebanese Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny, according to SANA.
The plan is intended to improve the prospects of attracting international donors and financing for joint transport projects, while reviving the railway network that historically linked the two countries.
