DUSHANBE, September 17, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- On Monday September 17, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received Mr. Martin Marmy, Secretary General of the International Road and Transport Union (IRU) and Mr. Edouard Biryukov, Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA).

The president’s official website reports the sides considered issues related to expansion of cooperation of Tajikistan with the mentioned international organizations on creation of the transport corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia.

Tajik leader reportedly supported an initiative of IRU to present the project, Model Highway, which includes the highway Kyrgyz Border – Jirgatol – Rasht – Dushanbe -- Qurghon Teppa -- Panji Poyon -- Afghan Border.

Rahmon also offered heads of IRU and TRACECA to expand cooperation with the Panji Poyon Free Economic Zone (FEZ), located in the Tajik southern Khatlon province, through creating the motor logistics center there.

In the course of the talks, the sides also touched upon issues of cooperation in building and rehabilitating highways in Tajikistan, the source said.   

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) was founded in Geneva on March 23, 1948, one year after the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), to expedite the reconstruction of war-torn Europe through facilitated international trade by road transport.  The IRU started as a group of national road transport associations from eight western European countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

A global industry federation of national Member Associations and Associate Members in 74 countries on the 5 continents, the IRU today represents the interests of bus, coach, taxi and truck operators worldwide, from large fleets to individual owner-operators.

TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is an international transport program involving the European Union and 14 member States of the Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian region.  It has a permanent Secretariat, originally financed by the European Commission, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and a regional office in Odessa, Ukraine. Since 2009 the organization has been entirely financed by member countries.

TRACECA was established in 1993, upon the signing of Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for the development of transport initiatives (including the establishment and development of a road corridor) between the EU, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Permanent Secretariat of TRACECA was established in March 2000 in Baku, and inaugurated on February 21, 2001.  The objectives of TRACECA were underlined by the Baku Initiative of 2004, followed by a further ministerial conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2006.