OREANDA-NEWS. October 07, 2010. Turkmenistan proved once again its status as a transnational crossroads it had gained since the days of the Silk Road. This is clearly illustrated by two international rallies, which run across the territory of Turkmenistan almost simultaneously. On October 4, Turkmenistan welcomed participants of the Peking to Paris Classic Car Rally 2010. On October 5, participants of the ECO-IRU Silk Road Truck Caravan 2010, which had set out on September 22 in Tehran, crossed the Turkmen-Iranian border and entered the Turkmen capital through the southern gate. This first-ever caravan is organized under the auspices of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and with the support of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) to explore the possibilities and prospects for expanding road transit in the region.

According to the Ministry of Motor Transport of Turkmenistan, 8 haulage trucks with trailers representing each of ECO member countries participate in the motor caravan. Turkmenistan is represented by the KAMAZ crew of Muraddurdy Bayramdurdyev and Sattar Taymuradov. Rally participants must drive through the territories of 7 countries during 11 days.

From Tehran the caravan headed for Islamabad. After driving along the roads of Pakistan, the Silk Road-2010 caravan arrived through Mashhad (Iran) in the capital of Turkmenistan, where they were warmly and solemnly welcomed according to ancient Turkmen tradition. Numerous people of Turkmenistan greeted them with songs and dances and offered bread and salt.

The history convincingly shows that peoples benefit when states moves forward along the path mutual understanding and cooperation. Such an approach based on the principles of good neighbourliness and awesome responsibility for the future of humanity is particularly evident in the policy of present-day Turkmenistan. An advantage of this policy is that our country offers specific projects aimed at building new international transport routes that is essential for the international community.

These projects include the Tejen-Sarakhs-Mashad railroad and the North-South transport corridor initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov together with Iran and Kazakhstan. In the future this transnational route will become a part of the transcontinental route East-West, which will facilitate transportation of goods to the Persian Gulf ports from the vast Eurasian continent.

Thus, the development of transport infrastructure is quite comparable with the Great Silk Road running through the Turkmen state from ancient times and revived now, which led the international truck caravan to Ashgabat.

On October 6, the truck caravan drove along the route Mary-Turkmenabat-Imamnazar towards the Turkmen-Afghan border. It will continue the journey along the roads of Afghanistan and then Tajikistan. Silk Road Truck Caravan participants are planning to cross Turkmenistan on the way back, then drive along the roads of Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and finish in Istanbul on October 24.