Making examinations at Kapıkule Border Gate from Edirne to Bulgaria, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said, “We do not have the luxury of losing even 1 minute at customs gates. In this understanding and principle, we strive to perform this work in perfect harmony with the ministry and the employees at our customs gates ”.
Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan made examinations at Kapıkule Border Gate opening from Edirne to Bulgaria. AK Party Edirne Deputy Fatma Aksal, Minister Pekcan, welcomed by Edirne Governor Ekrem Canalp, made a press statement at Kapıkule. Stating that they have experienced once again how important logistics is in addition to producing and selling during the pandemic period, Minister Pekcan said:
“The problems we experienced with the Covid outbreak have shown us how strategic importance some activities are. In the pandemic, natural disaster, war, our other means are of no value if we do not have our devoted employees and people who will always work. At the beginning of the pandemic, when all countries started to close the doors one by one, we, as the Ministry of Commerce, started the contactless trade practice by acting proactive. With our contactless trade practices, especially at our Kapıkule, Habur and Kapıköy Customs gates, we have ensured that the flow of trade can be maintained. We provided our suppliers on time. At the same time, we used technology to the fullest in our customs services without compromising the quality of our customs services and we gave importance to digitalization. We continue to improve the scope of paperless customs practices day by day. We have used the possibilities of technology to the fullest in many areas with the smart customs understanding and risk analysis and detection methods, and we continue to use them. As the Ministry, we launched our Easy Export Points project on April 4th, in addition to the easy support and easy export platform. Thus, we paved the way for reducing bureaucratic procedures and at the same time facilitating transit trade. In other words, a part of the vehicle that sets out for transit trade will be able to continue on its way by taking its loads. We think that this brings convenience for export and for our logistician. We have worked in full cooperation and coordination with our institutions, logistics professionals and employees in every link of our supply chain, who take responsibility for the uninterrupted continuity of trade with us in this process we are going through, and I would like to thank everyone separately in your presence. "
'WE DO NOT HAVE THE LOSS AT THE CUSTOMS DOORS EVEN A MINUTE'
Minister Pekcan stated that not only simple entry and exit procedures of vehicles are carried out at customs gates where international commodity trade is carried out, and said, “Far beyond this, there is a very comprehensive service chain that is intertwined with each other in coordination and harmony like the wheels inside the watch. These include passport controls, customs declarations, control and inspection of vehicle loads, vehicle transportation insurances, stamp tax, road tolls, analysis of definitive products, and covid tests and disinfections in Kapıkule. Apart from these, we have a duty to facilitate trade, as well as to combat illegal trade. In addition to all these transactions, we should underline the importance of the transactions carried out at its own customs gate Kapitan Andreevo in Bulgaria. A 1-minute performance loss at the stage of these processes means that the 60th vehicle waiting in line will wait 1 more hour. We do not have the luxury of losing even 1 minute at customs gates. In this understanding and principle, we strive to perform this work in perfect harmony with the ministry and the employees at our customs gates ”.
WE HAVE A TRUCK CAPACITY OF 2 THOUSAND VEHICLES
Saying that they work in coordination and cooperation with public institutions as well as industry organizations such as TOBB, FİN, UND in order to increase the efficiency of the operations in Kapıkule, Pekcan said, “We implemented the Kapıkule Action Plan at the end of 2018 and took 20 actions into consideration and thank God we realized these 20 actions. . I would like to thank everyone who contributed. In addition, our esteemed governor has increased the scope of the TIR parks on it and accelerated this process with the introduction of the TIR parks. We have a truck capacity of 2 thousand vehicles. Thus, we ensured that the vehicles came to the customs gates in a more controlled manner. Thus, we both enabled the vehicles to come to the customs gates in a more controlled manner and we created environments where our transporters can rest in humanitarian conditions ”.
FIGURES AT THE BORDER GATE
Minister Ruhsar Pekcan drew attention to the importance of Kapıkule Border Gate in vehicle and passenger traffic and said:
“During the pre-pandemic period of 2019, 1.2 million vehicles, including 1.1 million entries and 2.3 million exits, were entered and exited in Kapıkule. Considering that 7.6 million vehicles were entered and exited throughout the country in the same year, it means that 3/1 of the vehicles entering and leaving the country enter and exit from Kapıkule. In the same year, 27.6 million passengers entered and exited from all our customs gates. 5.7 million of this was realized only from Kapıkule. In other words, one out of every 5 passengers has entered and exited from Kapıkule. There was a slight decrease in these numbers due to the epidemic, but there was not much change thanks to our contactless applications. However, within the scope of the modernization works of our customs gates that we started with TOBB in this period, GTI completed the modernization works of the gate within 1 year and took it into operation. We increased our customs area from 333 decares to 390 decares, and we increased the TIR exit platform from 6 to 8 platforms. We increased the inspection platform at the entrance of the TIR from 5 to 8 with flexible platforms. In addition, we built 24 pump fuel stations that can deliver fuel to 24 trucks at the same time, and we prevented the accumulation here. For the controls of our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, we allocated 30 decares of veterinary control point. We are also doing very well in Hamzabeyli. We have completed that place, I hope we will open it soon. We increased it to 64 decares on 154 decares. We increased the number of platforms from 4 entrances to 4 exits, from 8 to 6 platforms as 6 entrances - 12 exits. We also serve on a total of 8 platforms in the passenger section. We also created 12 fuel stations. We have modernized all these platforms according to the one-stop system. "
'WE BREAK RECORD IN ENTRY AND OUTPUT AS IN EXPORT'
Noting that the work at the Ipsala Border Gate to Greece is continuing and it has been completed by 92 percent, Pekcan said, “In 105 March, we reached the highest entry - exit figure on 1422-1329 March with 28 entries - 29 exits at Kapıkule Border Gate as 2751 trucks, but As of yesterday, on April 15, 1438 truck entrances were provided. By Allah's leave, we will continue to break our own record in entry and exit, as well as in exports. When we look at the average of March, there are 1230 TIR exits with 1152 truck entrances. Accordingly, in 2017-2018, these numbers were 750 - 800 per day. Currently, we have increased the number of daily entries and exits by 2021 percent in March 54. These are very important figures. In addition, we see that with these input - output numbers, we perform the operation of a TIR in 1 minute and 25 seconds. We also achieved great success at the Hamzabeyli Customs Gate. Previously, there were 300-315 entry-exit figures here during the day. These are both 2017 and 2018 figures. In March, we reached 610 entry - exit volumes as 671 TIR entries and 1281 TIR exits. Here, our 2021 March figures have increased our TIR entry and exit by 70 percent, ”he said.
'COOPERATION WITH BULGARIA IS IMPORTANT'
Minister Pekcan stated that the figures he gave are extremely important for the economy and trade of our country and said, “Of course, it is not only what we do here, but also our cooperation with the Bulgarian authorities of our neighbors. Within the framework of our action plans here, we frequently met with them, kept in touch with our interlocutors, and at every opportunity we raised our expectations from them and followed them persistently in order to realize the structural changes here. Last year, I had meetings with the Bulgarian Minister of Finance and the Economy. In all these meetings, we shared with them the measures to be taken at the Kapitan Andreevo Customs Gate and voiced all the demands. It is now clear with experience that solving the problems at our border gates unilaterally will be insufficient in facilitating our foreign trade and customs procedures. We see that we can solve problems with our neighbors by talking, consulting, and it is extremely important, ”he said.
'HAPPYING HUMAN TO RECEIVE GOOD NEWS'
Stating that the capacity building activities at the customs gates are continuing, Minister Pekcan continued as follows:
“We follow the work at our doors day by day. Two pieces of information come to me in the morning before leaving home. One is the number of trucks leaving and entering all border gates and the export - import figures of that day. They are what I see when I first open my eyes in the morning. This is important for all of us, we should start the day with it. Getting good news also makes people happy. The best news and our expectation is that a special entry and exit line is being built for frigo trucks at Kapitan Andreevo. We expect this project to be activated as soon as possible, and with the activation of this line, our entry and exit numbers in Kapıkule will increase much more rapidly. There are studies in Lesovo. The number of platforms is increased from 4 to 7 by the Bulgarian authorities. We convey our requests from them to authorize not only Kapıkule but also Lesova Gate for the entry of animal and herbal products into the EU. We convey this to both the Bulgarian government and our EU counterparts so that we can open up a little more. We also learn that the veterinary checkpoint has been expanded at Kapitan Andreevo, which will relax our hands. In the consultations we made with our counterparts, we were informed that our transport vehicles carrying perishable products and refrigerated transport vehicles were waiting for 16-17 hours on the Bulgarian side in the Bulgarian side. We stepped in immediately. These vehicles can now pass through the border by waiting for a maximum of 2 hours. Finally, there were road tolls and very large penalties, which they called TOL, which the Bulgarian side had been applying for a while. We immediately made our attempts regarding these and ensured the cancellation of these penalties. We even provided the refund of the penalties. "
'WE CAPTURED 2020 TONS OF DRUGS IN 9.7'
Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said, “Our aim is to facilitate legal trade, while preventing illegal trade and to become one of the most reliable and legal countries in trade. We will continue our struggle in this direction. We had 2 record catches this year in Kapıkule this year. We caught 2 tons of 70 kilograms of cannabis, one of them, and 2 million 800 thousand drugs, again in Kapıkule. In 2020, we caught a total of 9.7 tons of drugs. "We caught 5.4 tons of this in Kapıkule," he said.
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