In a major plan to develop rail and road networks for boosting trans-regional trade, Pakistan-Iran-Turkey road and rail corridor is being operationalised in order to enhance the regional connectivity for boosting trans-regional trade.
A senior official at the ministry of the communications informed Pakistan Today that Pakistan, Turkey and Iran are in the process to operationalise Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI) Rail Corridor and Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI) Road Corridor under the vision.
“A working group is already functional in this regard and has previously held three meetings. Steps are being taken under joint efforts to boost the trans-regional trade for which the three countries have already signed Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA),” the official said.
The main objective of the TTFA is to provide access to land-locked countries in the ECO region. It has been ratified by eight member states of ECO.
The official said that the TTFA would also complement the trade through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and this would help connect China and Pakistan to other landlocked areas in the region.
The official said that initially the corridor had been operationalized, however, it has been abandoned due to few impediments which are being removed by the Railway Authorities.
“Similarly, efforts are being made to operationalise the ITI Road Corridor. So far, four meetings of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey have been held to finalise the operational modalities. The 4th meeting of relevant authorities of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan has been hosted by Ministry of Communications at Islamabad on Aug 17-18, 2016,” the official said.
The official said that in the past three meeting were held under the umbrella of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
The official said that TTFA has not yet been implemented and efforts are being made to operationalise the rail and road networks.
“We believe that rail network would start first which is a viable one, but we also plan to work out to operationalise the road network too,” the official said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the three countries had also operationalised road network back in the 1960s for trade under the vision of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD).
The TTFA developed by the ECO with the assistance of the UNCTAD was signed by all ECO member countries except Uzbekistan in May 1998.
TTFA is a broad-based agreement with eight protocols approved by the 3rd ECO ministerial meeting on Transport and Communications held in Islamabad in April 2000, dealing with the road, rail and inland water transportation, motor vehicles including 3rd party policy insurance, custom control and ToRs for Transit Transport Co-ordination Council (TTCC).
