BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- China's National Development and Reform Commission and General Administration of Customs have inked agreements with the International Road Transport Union (IRU) to facilitate road transport and trade.

According to the agreements signed on Sunday, Chinese authorities would work together with the IRU to promote the application of the International Road Transports (TIR) in China to facilitate road transport and trade in the Belt and Road region.

The TIR system 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 UN TIR Convention in July 2016 to simplify and streamline administrative formalities of international road transport. The convention has 70 contracting parties, most of which are in the Belt and Road region.

The TIR system is expected to reduce up to 80 percent of the transport time and 30 percent of cross-border transport costs for China and Belt and Road countries, according to Umberto De Pretto, secretary of the IRU.