Working hours of Milak border crossing with Afghanistan have been extended from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. to speed up the flow of commercial traffic on Iran’s side of the border.
The agreement was reached after a videoconference meeting between Iranian and Afghan heads of customs administrations and an in-person meeting between local officials of Sistan-Baluchestan and Afghanistan’s Nimruz Province on Wednesday, ILNA reported.
The new working hours were implemented on Sept. 16 and will be in place for 10 days. Wheat, sugar, fabrics, food, dairy products and vegetables are the main items exported by Iran to Afghanistan via Milak border crossing.
Besides Milak, Iran and Afghanistan have two other border crossings for trade, namely Dogharoun in Khorasan Razavi Province’s border city of Taybad and Mahiroud in South Khorasan Province.
Milak in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province is the main trade corridor between the two countries.
A total of 2,500 tons of commodities are exported to the neighboring Afghanistan through Dogharoun on a daily basis, according to the manager of this eastern checkpoint.
“The main exported goods, including cement, rebars, fuel and liquefied gas, are shipped to Afghanistan by 100 trucks every day,” manager of Dogharoun Border Terminal, Karim Navaei-Nezami, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that an average of 2,000 tons of products are transited to this eastern neighbor on a daily basis with around 80 trucks.
“These transited goods mainly include auto parts, vegetable oils and textile and cross into Dogharoun mainly through Hormozgan’s Shahid Rajaee Port and West Azarbaijan Province’s Bazargan border crossing,” he added.
According to the official, Dogharoun is currently Iran's fifth busiest border crossing when it comes to exports via road.
Since the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 20, the number of trucks crossing Dogharoun has increased by 50% compared with the similar period of last year.
Earlier this month, Navaei-Nezami said around 1,200 trucks carrying Iranian goods to Afghanistan as well as transit goods were held up in Dogharoun.
“The heavy traffic behind the border is due to the fact that Turkmenistan is refusing to open up its common border crossings with Iran after closing them down due to the outbreak of the coronavirus and other eastern checkpoints such as Milak in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and Mahiroud in South Khorasan Province. These have redirected traffic toward Dogharoun,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA a day before the extension of Milak working hours.
“What complicates the situation further is that there are not enough facilities on the Afghan side of the border to expedite the passage of these trucks into the neighboring country.”
He added that officials from both sides have agreed to increase working hours from 7:15 a.m.-5 p.m. to 7 a.m.-7 p.m. to help solve the problem.
Latest data released by the Customs Administration of Iran show 2.6 million tons worth $871 million were exported from Iran to Afghanistan during the first five months of the current fiscal year (July 22-Aug. 21), accounting for 8% of Iran's total exports to the country during the period.
