Measures to simplify procedures for motoring tourists when driving across borders in the Middle East and worldwide were top of the agenda for the newly formed AIT/FIA Customs Council in Dubai today (September 12).

The new body, established earlier this year by the Alliance Internationale de Tourisme (AIT) and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), was meeting for the first time to discuss key issues at border crossings, to develop a working plan for the next 12 months, and elect senior officials.

One of its key objectives is to make it quicker and easier for motoring tourists to travel from country to country with the use of official Carnet de Passage en Douane (CPDs) or “trip tickets, which are issued exclusively in the Emirates by Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE).

CPDs simplify customs formalities when presented along with a Certificate of Tourism, and around 30,000 to 40,000 are issued annually by the ATCUAE to people driving outside the Emirates into the rest of the GCC states, and onwards to other neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Today’s meeting, hosted by the ATCUAE at its headquarters in Al Mamzar, Dubai, was chaired by Ortrud Birk, Director Strategy and Operations, FIA, with 12 FIA Customs Council members from Syria, Egypt, the UAE, India, Kuwait, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Turkey also in attendance.

ATCUAE president Dr Mohammed Ben Sulayem, said: “In view of the large volume of CDPs that we issue every year, it is important that we are closely involved in the improvement of application procedures so that we and our neighbours in the GCC and wider Middle East maintain close relations.”

“It’s an honour for the club to host this first meeting of the Council and we look forward to playing our part in providing all national motoring bodies with improved licensing systems.” – TradeArabia News Service