Riyadh, March 27 (QNA) - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced Thursday a package of strategic initiatives for the transportation and logistics sector, aimed at enhancing logistical integration among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, supporting the continuity of supply chains, and increasing their resilience.

The initiatives announced by Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services, Saleh Al Jasser, during the extraordinary meeting of the Ministers of Transport and Communications of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, included raising the permissible operational age of trucks in Saudi Arabia to 22 years.

This applies to trucks coming from GCC countries. Additionally, trucks designated for transporting goods and refrigerated materials from all GCC countries will be allowed to enter empty to transport goods destined for other GCC countries.

Furthermore, the initiative to establish Gulf storage and redistribution zones was launched to regulate container movement and allocate operational zones for each GCC country within King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam.

This will enhance storage and redistribution efficiency and the flexibility of supply chains between the eastern and western coasts.

The initiative also includes exemption from storage fees for up to 60 days for GCC imports and exports.

It is worth noting that the Saudi transport and logistics system launched a package of initiatives in recent days to serve the logistics sector in the Kingdom and the GCC countries.

These initiatives aim to provide additional operational corridors for containers and goods diverted from Saudi Arabia's eastern ports and ports in other GCC countries to Jeddah Islamic Port and other Saudi ports on the Red Sea coast, to ensure the stability of trade routes with regional and global markets. (QNA)