The ECO Regular Monitoring of Trucks, in partnership with the third phase of the IRU’s New Eurasian Land Transport Initiative, was launched today to identify the main impediments and non-physical barriers to international road transport within the ECO region and help governments implement the appropriate UN multilateral instruments to stimulate economic growth by facilitating trade and international road transport.

Ashgabat – The Economic Cooperation Organisation Regular Monitoring of Trucks (ECO-RMT) in partnership with IRU’s New Eurasian Land Transport Initiative (NELTI-3) was launched today in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on the occasion of the 8th Meeting of the Ministers of Transport and Communications of the ECO Member States, who assembled to discuss how to promote economic cooperation and hence trade throughout the ECO region by facilitating international road transport.

ECO Secretary General, Mohammed Yahya Maroofi, explained, “Reliable, factual information about the conditions of international road transport in the ECO region is crucial to identify real impediments and appropriate solutions to be implemented in order to effectively remove or reduce physical and non-physical barriers to international road transport. This is the aim of the ECO Regular Monitoring of Trucks, which will collect invaluable data on border waiting times, customs procedures, controls and roadside checks as well as existing transport infrastructure along major transport routes in our region.”  

This joint ECO RMT/NELTI-3 project will allow the collection and analysis of data on the current conditions of international road transport faced by professional truck drivers during international commercial cargo deliveries in the ECO region through special questionnaires and logbooks to be filled by drivers of 26 participating companies from 7 ECO Member States, (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan) applying the UNESCAP Time-Distance-Cost methodology. 

The ECO RMT/NELTI-3 project is the continuation of the ECO-IRU Silk Road Truck Caravan 2010 and IRU’s NELTI 1 and 2, whose successful results -  confirming road trade links between Europe and Asia as an economically-attractive and viable alternative to traditional, saturated maritime trading routes - were acknowledged by Heads of ECO Member States who called upon all the relevant parties to implement the regular runs of the truck caravans in the ECO region in 2011.

IRU Secretary General, Martin Marmy, concluded, “once we receive the final results of the ECO Regular Monitoring of Trucks, the IRU is confident that the ECO Member States, under the guidance of the ECO Secretariat, will be able to implement the required measures to effectively promote and further facilitate trade and international road transport in the ECO Member States.”

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·      Learn more on the ECO RMT/NELTI-3 project

·      See NELTI-2 final results (.pdf)

·      Stay tuned on  @The_IRU

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