Project description

The Beijing-Brussels Caravan by road will start in Beijing at the Euro-Asian Road Transport Conference on 27 September and arrive in Brussels on 17 October.

Purpose of the Project

Initiated by KAZATO, IRU member association in Kazakhstan, and supported by governments, international institutions as well as road transport associations, the aim of the Beijing-Brussels Caravan project is to demonstrate that road transport is an effective means of shipping cargo by land between Europe and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Participants of BBB Caravan

The participants of the Caravan are the following IRU member associations: CRTA (China), KAZATO (Kazakhstan), ASMAP (Russian Federation), LINAVA (Lithuania), Latvijas Auto (Latvia), and ZMPD (Poland).
These road transport associations have selected national road transport carriers to participate in this project.

Supporters

The Caravan is supported by the IRU. The UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), UNESCAP (United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific), the European Commission (EU), the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Permanent Office of the Russian Federation at the United Nations, the American Institute for Shippers\u2019 Association and the US Chamber of Commerce have expressed their interest in this undertaking in the official Caravan brochure.

BBB Caravan Itinerary

The Caravan will start from Horgos (China, whereto loaded containers will previously be delivered by Chinese carriers) on 27 September 2005 at the same time as the official Caravan Farewell Ceremony will be held in Beijing during the IRU 3rd Euro-Asian Road Transport Conference in the presence of several hundreds of Chinese and foreign delegates including more than a dozen of foreign Ministers of Transport and that of China.
On 27 September, following a transloading operation, the containers under TIR carnets will start their epic journey on Kazakh, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish trucks.

Where When

Astana		Kazakstan		30 September 2005
Moscow		Russian Federation		7 October 2005
Riga		Latvia		10 October 2005
Vilnius		Lithuania		12 October 2005
Warsaw		Poland		14 October 2005
Brussels		Belgium		17 October 2005

Public Relations activities

Press conferences will take place in the indicated capital cities. These will be organized by the IRU and its local member association, whereby the Brussels Press Conference will be supported also by the US Chamber of Commerce.
It is hoped that the Caravan will transmit the main message of the project all along its route: "Road transport drives progress from Beijing to Brussels".