Press Release
The 9th Meeting of the Heads of ECO Railway Authorities was held at Astana on 13-14 June 2007. Delegates from the capitals of all Member States, as well as the representatives of UNESCAP, (IsDB), ADB, OSJD, and the ECO Secretariat participated in the Meeting.
His Excellency Mr. Zhenis Kassymbek, Vice Minister of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan inaugurated the Meeting. In his inaugural address, the Deputy Minister appreciated the efforts made to strengthening the railway linkages among ECO Member States.
In his inaugural statement, Mr. Serik Alybayev, Deputy Secretary General of the ECO, deliberated on the railway related provisions of the TTFA.
The Meeting considered at length the decisions of the 1st (Tehran, 19-20 June 2006) and 2nd (Astana, 12 June 2007) Meetings of the Working Group for Implementation of the Trans-Asian Railway Mainline on Istanbul-Almaty Route. While endorsing the reports of those Meetings, the Heads of Railway Authorities took concrete measures to timely implementation of decisions adopted by the above said Meetings in order to bring the operation of the ECO Container and Passenger trains into their full capacity. The Meeting also considered initiatives to organize demonstration runs in the routes of the North-South Corridor of Trans-Asian Railway Network.
Revitalization of the China-Middle East- Europe, establishment of the Federation of International Transport Associations of the Member States, extension of Almaty-Istanbul Container Train to other Member States and increasing the speed of that Train, and an agreed basis for calculation of tariffs were other main topics considered by this important Meeting.
During the Meeting, specific conclusions were reached with the delegates of ADB, IDB, UNESCAP and OSJD on the ways to enhance their cooperation with the ECO in development of the railway network in the region and effective implementation of the TTFA. Several specific priority areas and projects were discussed for financial\technical support of the participating international organizations.
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