Iran Calls for Acceleration of ECO Project
2022-February-3
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi underlined the necessity of improving economic development in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) region through infrastructural development, trade and transit procedures.
Qassemi made the remarks at the 11th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Transport held virtually on February 2 in Turkey while high-level expert group meetings were run from January 31 to February 1.
During the meeting, member-states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) have emphasized promotion of ECO's intra-regional and inter-regional connectivity and acceleration of implementation of long-term priorities of the Organization for development of transport and communication infrastructures.
Qassemi referred to the necessity of improving economic development in the ECO region through infrastructural development, updating trade and transit procedures, and increasing traffic.
Iran has proposed the ECO Secretariat and Pakistan to attract investments from banks and international organizations to construct Quetta–Taftan Railway Line and equip the fleet.
Iran also has pointed to the importance of financing the projects along Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran (KTAI) Corridor and continuing the test run along road corridors of KTAI and ITI (Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad) under TIR Convention in order to identify and remove the barriers.
The development of efficient transport network in the ECO region is of high priority.
Among the seven main routes of transport corridors in the ECO region, Iran has the key role in the first five routes due to its crucial geographical and strategic location in the region.
Iran’s position has turned the country into a transit route as it plays an important role in the trade between West and East.
Transport along these ECO routes in Iran has recently witnessed important developments particularly along "Turkey-Iran-Pakistan" (ITI) and "Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran" (KTI) Corridors.
ECO train as the most effective mode of transport for freight transfer can play an important role in expanding commercial transactions between the member states.
For implementation of Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran (KTI) railway freight corridor, a tripartite MoU between Railway Administrations of the Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan had recently been signed on the sidelines of ECO summit in Ashgabat in November 2021.
The member states of ECO transport corridor includes Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Source: https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14001113000719/Iran-Calls-fr-Accelerain-f-ECO-Prjec