Daily ‘Jang’ in its editorial comments on Tuesday said undoubtedly the train service has great potential for improvement in the regional trade.
The paper said that it was decided to run a freight train in 2009 to promote trade between the three countries, but due to lack of proper arrangements, the service was suspended after two years.
"Launched with dozens of containers from the Pakistani capital to Istanbul, Europe's largest city, the train will complete its journey in about two weeks, much faster and less expensive than the alternative sea route. Significant increase in exports is essential to improve Pakistan's balance of trade,” it said.
It added the needs of the brotherly countries should be assessed in collaboration with the business and industrial circles of the country to decide which items can be exported to them.
Jang said better arrangements should be made to ensure that this service will continue on a permanent basis and will not be suspended as in the past, as well as to increase cooperation between the three countries in the fields of trade as well as education, research, and science and technology.
It is worth mentioning that the length of the ECO train is more than 6,500 km, out of which 1,990 km is in Pakistan, 2,603 km in Iran, and 1,950 km in Turkey.
The Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul railway which connects the three main countries of Iran-Pakistan and Turkey was inaugurated last Tuesday after the gap of 10 years at a ceremony with the presence of Pakistani ministers and Ambassador of Iran Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini.
The ECO container train officially started operating in 2009 according to the tripartite agreement between Islamabad, Tehran, and Ankara, and the first train left Islamabad for Turkey via Iran on August 14 of the same year (August 23, 2009).
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