Uniform law for the carriage of freight in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. On 21 February 2013, the Government of Pakistan deposited an application for accession to COTIF. The accession procedure should be concluded by September 2013. Pakistan will therefore become the 49^th Member State of OTIF.
Pakistan’s accession is linked to the initiative by the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to set up a rail link for trains carrying containers between Islamabad and Istanbul via Tehran, which might one day be extended to western Europe and southern Asia. Various auxiliary lines will link up with this corridor.