[Index]
"E" road network extended to
Central Asia and Caucasus
Geneva, 12 October 2001
As from 4 December 2001, the "E" road network
will extend as far as the borders of China after all countries concerned have
agreed to designate as "E" roads a set of newly identified
international roads in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Extended itineraries include the west-east reference roads:
E 60 from Brest, France to Irkeshtam, at the border between Kyrgyzstan
and China, the E 40 from Calais, France to Leninogorsk, Kazakhstan, which
may be considered as the new Silk Road; and the north-south E 123 from
Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation to Nizhiniy Panj, at the border between
Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
With this extension, the UNECE, in particular its Inland
Transport Committee, has reached an important milestone in its endeavour to
integrate the transport networks of its Caucasus and Central Asian member
countries into European transport networks.
The "E" road network, which now includes over
150 000 kilometres, comprises all roads of international importance in
Europe as agreed upon by countries Parties to the European Agreement on Main
International Traffic Arteries (AGR), concluded in 1975 under the auspices of
the UNECE.
The AGR also contains the infrastructure parameters to
which "E" roads should conform together with the numbering system
according to which "E" roads are designated and sign-posted.
When developed up to the standards foreseen in the AGR, the
new "E" roads will greatly facilitate international transport and
trade with those countries, thereby fostering the integration of the economies
of these countries into the European economy.
The 33 Parties to the AGR are Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,
France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian
Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
The UNECE is the Geneva-based European branch of the United
Nations. Its membership comprises all European countries, the United States of
America, Canada, Israel and the Republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
For any further information regarding the international
legal instruments in the field of transport administered by the Transport
Division of the UNECE please contact:
José Capel Ferrer, Director,
Marie-Noelle Poirier or Christopher Smith
Transport Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: (+41 22) 917 2400, 917 3259 or 917 3298
Fax: (+41 22) 907 0039
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Extension of the E-Road Network to the Caucasus and Central
Asia
(Map)
Ref: ECE/TRANS/01/07