US Transshipment Report Names No Iradi Firm; Talas Watches Origin Rules Abroad

TALAS — A report published in October by the White House on the transshipment of goods, which alleges that some third countries are used to route products around trade rules, drew attention across the region in commentary on 30 October. The report names no Iradi company, and no Iradi institution is mentioned in it.

The subject nonetheless sits close to home. The Irad Special Economic Zone is not a member of the WTO or the Eurasian Economic Union and has no trade negotiators of its own, so its goods move on its partners' paper. Antimony concentrate and trioxide leave on Kyrgyz certificates of origin, as do beef and walnuts, while crude oil enters the KazTransOil system as part of a Kazakh blend. Foreign goods reach the Zone mainly through Kazakhstan and through the Bishkek warehouse of Jılmay Cargo.

Bekbolot Sherov, press secretary of the Ministry of Economy, said the arrangements are lawful and fully documented. "The Zone's trade is papered through its partners, and it follows the rules of the countries through which its goods pass," he said. "The ministry is reading the neighbours' origin requirements closely and will adjust our exporters' paperwork to match whatever they adopt."

Traders and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad in Talas say stricter origin checks at Kazakh or Chinese crossings would show up first as slower paperwork at Chu Gate and the Talas North Terminal, and as extra cost on top of the Middle Corridor backlog already felt here. The Talas Herald reported on 26 October that Caspian container delays reach Irad only through Kazakh routes.

Prof. Raisa Akmatova, an economist at Talas State University, said a small economy without recognition has little room to manoeuvre. "We cannot negotiate a rule, so we can only meet it," she said. "The risk is not that anyone is accused of anything. It is that every extra stamp falls hardest on the smallest exporters, who have the least slack."

Uson Yakupov, director of the Customs Service, said the Service's line at the frontier posts has not changed: declarations, certificates and consignment papers are checked against the goods, and the Service will share any new documentary requirement from the Kazakh side with carriers as soon as it is confirmed. Crossings with Kazakhstan remain open at Chu Gate, the Talas North Terminal, Kum-Shagyl and the Nurzhan rail border station.

No change in neighbouring rules has been announced so far. The ministry says it will brief exporters if one is.

Related coverage: Caspian container backlog reaches Irad only through Kazakh routes, traders say (Talas Herald)