The President of the ECO Trade and Development Bank attended to the arrival ceremony of ECO-IRU Road Truck Caravan (www.silkroadcaravan.org) to Turkey held in Ankara on 22 October 2010. The Truck Caravan project, jointly organized by the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) with the support of its Member States and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in cooperation with its national Member Associations in the ECO region. The ECO Bank fully supported the organizers and contributed to this project as sponsor.

The Caravan of trucks started its 11,000 km journey on 22 September 2010 from Tehran-Iran and travelled across Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan with the final stop in Turkey. The objectives of the Caravan are to (i) examine the implementation of ECO Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA) (ii) promote the role of transport in the region (iii) collect en-route data such as waiting times, procedures, and charges as well as visa requirements (iv)examine the existing infrastructure. The finding report of the project would be submitted to ECO ministrial meeting on Transport and Communications to be held in Turkmenistan during 2010 in order to develop further policy decisions and relevant programmes.

During the arrival ceremony of Truck Caravan held in Ankara, the Minister of Transport and Communications of Turkey, Binali Yildirim on the behalf of organizers of this project presented a commemorative plaque to the President of ECO Bank in appreciation of its participation and contribution to this important project.


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