Lack of adherence to international transit conventions

There are a number of international conventions which are relevant to transit, but to which most of the land-locked countries and their transit neighbours have not adhered. For example, only one land-locked country and two transit countries are contracting parties to the Customs Conventions of 1950 and 1975 on the International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets. Two land-locked countries and four transit countries have adhered to the Customs Convention on Containers of 1956 and 1972. None of the land-locked developing countries and transit countries are contracting parties to the International Convention to Facilitate the Crossing of Frontiers for Goods by Rail (1952) (TIF). While 14 land-locked countries are contracting parties to the Convention on Transit Trade of Land-locked States (1965), only four transit countries have so far adhered to it. This situation is disconcerting since these conventions, if adhered to and complied with, would contribute considerably to removing some of the bottlenecks currently constraining regional transit traffic.