BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 21. The first eTIR operation connecting Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan is set to ease a key bottleneck on 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, assessing the significance of the milestone for transit along the route connecting China and Europe.
"An important bottleneck along the Middle Corridor between China and Europe is set to be eased with fully digital TIR operations across the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and on to Uzbekistan," she said.
According to Rey-Bellet, the development also creates circumstances for extending digital transit to the full length of the Middle Corridor.
"With this piece in place, the conditions are now set for the extension of digital transit to the full length of the corridor connecting China and Europe," Rey-Bellet said.
The transition to eTIR is expected to eliminate the need for paper transit documentation for goods moving through the corridor. Rey-Bellet said this could reduce delays and opportunities for document loss or fraud, while making border crossings faster and more predictable for transit countries along the route.
"With eTIR, the goods moving through the corridor will no longer require paper transit documentation. This means fewer delays, fewer opportunities of document loss or fraud, and faster, more predictable border crossings for all transit countries en route," she noted.
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.
