BAKU, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The expansion of regional cooperation in the railway transport was one of the major topics of the two-day Economic Cooperation Organization's railway authorities meeting that opened in Baku Monday.
The 13th meeting of the Heads of ECO Railway Authorities was launched here along with the 7th Meeting of Railway Committee of ECO Transit Transport Coordination Council (TTCC).
The meeting covered a wide range of topics related to the latest developments related to the ECO container trains operation, train service challenges, important regional railway infrastructure projects and new regional initiatives, according to Azerbaijan State News Agency.
Addressing the conference, Igbal Huseynov, Deputy chairman of Azerbaijan Railways, highlighted the railway projects implemented in Azerbaijan and briefed the participants on modernization of the railway infrastructure.
Igbal Huseynov outlined the role of international transport corridors in increasing the transit potential.
Touching upon the implementation of the International North-South Transport Corridor, Igbal Huseynov said that the construction of the 8.3 kilometers single-track railway from the Astara station (Azerbaijan) to the Iranian border and the construction of the railway bridge across the Astara river as part of the Gazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran) -- Astara (Azerbaijan) railway project have been completed.
Other representatives of the meeting stressed the importance of strengthening regional cooperation in the field of railway transport.
Representatives from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Iran attended the event.
On Tuesday Baku will also host the Third High-Level Working Group meeting on Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran)- Astara (Azerbaijan) Railway Project.
The meeting will discuss the latest status of the construction works along the route in the territories of Azerbaijan and Iran and challenges being faced by the concerned parties in the course of construction works.
In 1985, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was established by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey to promote economic, technical, and cultural cooperation among the member states.
ECO is the successor organization of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) which remained in existence since 1964 up to 1979.
In 1992, the Organization was expanded to include seven new members, namely: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
