Truck Owners Syndicate calls for easing COVID restrictions at Iraqi border

AMMAN — The movement of cargo and its carriers on the Jordanian-Iraqi border is facing several obstacles after the entry of 80 Jordanian trucks into Iraq under the door-to-door system, Nael Thiabat, deputy president of the Truck Owners Syndicate, said on Sunday.

Thiabat told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that 200 Jordanian oil trucks have headed to the border since Saturday night after they received Iraqi visas. He said that obstacles facing cargo carriers include the high costs of COVID-19 tests, which can reach JD45.

He said that vaccinated truck drivers are not excluded from the COVID test. Thiabat called for exempting Jordanian and Iraqi truck drivers who have international vaccination certificates from these tests.

Lowering the test costs and vaccinating Iraqi drivers in Jordan would speed up entry procedures and ease overcrowding at the border, he said.