The First Meeting of the High Level Expert Group on the Program of Action for the ECO Decade of Transport and Communications was held at the ECO Secretariat in Tehran on 15 December, 2008. The representatives of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, as well as the representatives of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) participated in the meeting.
Further to the decisions of the 6th and 7th Meetings of the Ministers for Transport and Communications of the ECO Member States, as well as the 17th COM, the HLEG considered at length ways and means for preparation of the New Programme of Action for ECO Decade of Transport and Communications. The New Programme would cover the period 2009-2015, coinciding with ECO vision 2015.
The New Programme should include capacity building, feasibility study, and investment projects on different modes of transport (road, railway, marine, civil aviation, and multimodal transport), transit trade facilitation, telecommunication and postal services.
The Meeting endorsed the format prepared by the Secretariat as a guide to showcasing of regionally important projects by the member states.
A study would be initiated to prepare for the next Program of Action, with the involvement of national and international consultants and the representatives of funding institutions and donor countries.
The Meeting requested the ECO Secretariat to establish contact with the international specialized and financial institutions, donor countries, trust funds, regional investment funds, and other relevant financial institutions to secure their partnership in implementation of the New Programme of Action.
The Meeting strongly supported the proposal of the ECO Secretariat for consideration of the establishment of a financial mechanism to support transport infrastructure projects by the Ministerial Meeting on Finance and Economy. This issue has already been included in the Agenda of the Ministerial Meeting.
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