Tehran, Beijing agree to pursue rail customs cooperation to boost trade
Iran and China agreed on Friday to move forward with signing a rail customs cooperation deal aimed at facilitating and expanding bilateral trade, according to state news agency IRNA.
The agreement was discussed during a bilateral meeting between the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) chief Foroud Asgari, and Zhang Baofeng, head of China's General Administration of Customs, on the sidelines of a World Customs Organization meeting.
The proposed agreement is intended to make more effective use of rail transport capacity between the two countries and support increased trade flows.
The two sides also discussed extending special customs facilitation measures to authorized economic operators (AEOs), a program designed to simplify customs procedures for trusted businesses.
Officials reviewed plans to expand cooperation in customs training, exchange expertise between specialists, and collaborate on coordinated border management practices.
Separately, Asgari met with the head of the Asia-Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building, where he said Iran was prepared to deepen cooperation in areas including smart customs, digital transformation, risk management, coordinated border management and Time Release Studies (TRS).
Asgari said IRICA was implementing modernization and electronic transformation programs and welcomed greater participation by Iranian customs experts in regional workshops, training courses and professional development initiatives. He also called for more virtual training and online capacity-building programs to broaden access for customs personnel.
The head of the regional capacity-building office expressed readiness to expand cooperation with Iran in organizing customs-related training programs, according to IRNA.