DUSHANBE, December 19, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The first meeting of the Working Group on the Model Highway Initiative (MHI) in Central Asia took place in Dushanbe on December 16.

The meeting was organized by the Tajik Ministry of Transport and the Tajik Association of Road Transport Operators (ABBAT) and its main objective was reportedly in discussing a number of strategic issues related to MHI, including the draft intergovernmental agreement and the concept of a MHI Regional Infrastructure Fund.

A delegation of International Road Transport Union (IRU), led by IRU Undersecretary-General, Igor Runov, attended the meeting.

While in Dushanbe, the IRU delegation also met with Dmitry Mezentsev, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to discuss future joint initiatives after the scheduled signing of the SCO Agreement on the facilitation of international road transport in early 2014.

To tackle the physical and non-physical impediments to road transport along the reopened Silk Road, the IRU has developed a new Model Highway Initiative, which is to be implemented in a public-private partnership through international investment mechanisms and in cooperation with the national governments concerned in order to interlink the facilitation of transit transport by streamlining border crossing procedures as well as promoting the development of ancillary infrastructure.

According to ABBAT, Model Highway is a chosen section of an internationally rated trunk road crossing the territories of several Eurasian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan) and being of strategic importance for interconnecting and promoting Eurasian trade by road to the major world markets.