The Meeting also conferred on the “Joint ECO IRU Report on the ITI Project” and advised on implementing the recommendations of the Report to facilitate and commercialize the Corridor.
The Meeting (chaired by Ms. Eloin EDIS, Head of Department of Regional Agreements and Dispute settlement of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Turkey) discussed in detail the recent “Activation of ITI Road Corridor by two Loaded Trucks” and the impediments and challenges identified during the first run.
The Meeting also conferred on the “Joint ECO IRU Report on the ITI Project” and advised on implementing the recommendations of the Report to facilitate and commercialize the Corridor.
Mr. Akbar Khodaei, Director of Transport and Communication of the ECO Secretariat, in his statement informed that the aforesaid operation in October 2021 was highly appraised by the 15th ECO Summit and particularly by the presidents of the en-route countries.
He also emphasized that given the promising results of the project, all the stake holders shall focus on step by step removal of the impediments and further facilitate the process including digitalizing the corridor by particularly implementing eTIR and eCMR, familiarizing the authorities at Mirjaveh Taftan BCP with transit operations and TIR procedures, facilitation of refueling of trucks along the corridor, facilitation of visa as per ECO VISA Scheme.
The TC Director also mentioned that as per analysis of the ECOIRU Study on ITI Road Corridor, there is a high potential for integration of ITI road corridor with C-PEC, and absorbing some portion of the cargo flow from China to Europe and vice versa.
