URUMQI, May 26 -- A TIR assembly center, the first in China certified by the International Road Transport Union (IRU), was established on Sunday.

Located in the Kashgar Area of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the center is expected to raise customs clearance efficiency for goods from Kashgar to countries in Central Asia and Europe by at least 30 percent, and in the meantime, lower transportation costs by approximately 15 percent, according to the local customs authority.

TIR stands for Transports Internationaux Routiers or International Road Transports. It is an international customs transit system to help save time and money for transport operators and customs authorities when moving goods across borders.

China joined the TIR Convention in July 2016 to simplify and streamline administrative formalities of international road transport.

According to Ji Shengguo, general manager of an international logistics company in Xinjiang, the TIR certification allows logistics companies to skip loading and unloading operations and customs transfer procedures for goods in transit.

"With the establishment of the TIR assembly center, we plan to explore the European market," said Ji, whose company currently runs businesses in Central Asia.

Measures to optimize the TIR transport clearance process, increase the frequency of existing TIR route services, and expand new routes will be taken to further facilitate cross-border trade, noted Liu Hualong, deputy director of Kashgar Customs.