9th Anniversary of R.C.D. (July 21, 1973)

Format of all the three stamps is vertical having a rectangle at left for the subject and a border pa-nel at right and bottom.
The subject of 20-Paisa Stamp is the ancient archaeo-logical finds of “Lut Desert Diggings” in Iran.
The subject of 60-Paisa Stamp is “The Main Street of Moenjodaro” in Pakistan.
The subject of Rs. 1.25 Stamp is “The Mausoleum of King Antiochus I” in Turkey.
To mark the 9th Anniversary on 21 July, 1973, of the establishment of the Regional Co-operation for Deve-lopment, Pakistan, along-with the other two member-count-ries, is issuing a set of three Commemorative Postage Stamps. The subject of these stamps is “Archaeological Sites” of the three countries. The following is the brief description of the subject of each stamp:—
PAKISTAN:
MAIN STREET OF MOENJODARO
The five-thousand-year old remains of Moenjodaro represent the earliest urban planning in the world. The vast remains of the dead city excavated partly from 1922 to 1931 show regular gridirons of city blocks, each making a rectangle nearly 1200 feet in length from north to south and 800 feet in breadth from east to west. The main street running the whole length of the low city from north to south is about 32 feet wide, and is joined by lanes, 8 to 10 feet in width. The lanes are in turn, connected with the by-lanes, usually 5 feet in width. It is commonly on the by-lanes that doors of houses open, indicating that the people took great precaution against street accidents even in those days of slow moving traffic of bullock-carts. Beneath the surface of the lanes and by-lanes are the co-vered drains running in the middle of the whole length and meeting wider discharge drains for quick disposal.
In brief, the mathematical precision of layout, consi-deration of traffic and sanitary regulations, provisions for avoiding direct rays of the scorching sun and breaking the force of gusty winds, so much apparent in the town plan-ning of Moenjodaro, all speak for a high sense of propor-tion and far sight of a race which inhabited the Indus Valley more than five thousand years ago.
TURKEY:
THE COLOSSAL STATUES OF THE MAUSOLEUM OF KING ANTIOCHUS I;
The Mausoleum of King Antiochus I is on Nemrud Mountain (2400 meters), which is a part of Anti-Taurus Mountains in Adlyaman Province. Antiochus I (reigned BC 69-34) is the second king of the Commagene Kingdom. These three colossal statues are on the West Terrace of the Mausoleum.
Their original heights are about 8 meters and they are made of sandstone. The heads of these statues are about 1.80 meters. The statue, in the front position depicts the god Zeus-Oromasdes. The colossal statue on the left depicts the Sun God Apollo-Mithra and the third one depicts the goddess of Commagene who is the goddess of Fortuna. Zeus and Apollo statues have the. Anatolian style hat, but the statue of the Goddess Commagene has a crown with fruits on it.
These statues have the Late-Hittite and Hellenic characteristics and it is believed that they are made by either Hellenes-or Anatolian artists who were trained in the Hellenic Art Schools. They are interesting works of the Late- Hellenic age. IRAN:
An archaeological expedition succeeded in unearthing, in Lut Desert (Dasht-e-Kavir) in 1968, relics of the civilisation belonging to a period at the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC. One of the finds, the subject of the stamp this year, was a clay bust of a man with black hair and beard. The bust, 71.5 cm. high and 47 cm. wide, has a dark yellow body with both hands on the chest.
R. C. D.
Following the Istanbul Summit Conference between the Heads of State of Iran, Pakistan and, Turkey in 1964, there came into being an historic tripartite arrangement between these three countries, known as the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD). This Cooperation aimed at further strengthening the already firm socio-economic ties existing between the three countries and the attainment of greater welfare and prosperity for the peo-ple, inhabiting this Region.
Based on the geographical contiguity and common heritage of history and culture of the member countries, RCD, with its Secretariat permanently located in Tehran, has succeeded in stimulating concrete action in diverse fields of socio-economic endeavour, such as trade and industry, petroleum and petrochemicals, insurance and banking, transport and communications, technical cooperation and public administration and exchange of scientific knowledge and cultural cooperation.
In the fields of trade, for example, the Member Governments have reached the final stage of concluding a trade liberalisation agreement, a measure which would go a long way in further strengthening the economic ties amongst the RCD Countries.
As regards industrial cooperation, the regional part-ners have registered a considerable measure of success in the establishment of joint-purpose enterprises. Hitherto, three major projects, with the participation of the member countries in the equity capital, have gone into production. They are Bank Note and Security Papers Ltd. and RCD Ball Bearing Limited, both located in Pakistan, and the Iranian Aluminum Company located in Iran. There are many other joint-purpose enterprises in different stages of formulation.
In the field of petroleum and petrochemicals, negotia-tions are in progress to work out an arrangement whereby the requirements of the member countries would be met from within the Region.
A regard banking, a comprehensive RCD Banking Manual was published in 1969 and, as a result of discussions held in Karachi in 1972, a Regional Development Bank is proposed to be established, depending upon the expansion in the volume of trade in the Region.
In the field of insurance and reinsurance, considerable cooperation has been stimulated through the RCD Insu-rance Centre in Karachi. The no-profit-based RCD Inter-national School of Insurance, which was founded in Tehran in 1970, is also expected to benefit the insurance industry of the three member countries in the: years to come.
Regarding transport and communications, remarkable progress has been made in the construction of the RCD Highway and the rail link between the three countries. The cooperation in air transportation is also worthy of note.
The three RCD countries already enjoy a direct micro-wave link and preferential intra-regional postage charges. To this has been added the successful functioning of the RCD Shipping Services, to which almost all the major shipping companies of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey belong, since its inception in Istanbul in 1965.
Another factor of strengthening ties is the pro-gramme of technical cooperation between the three RCD countries. This programme provides not only for exchange of experts, individually or in teams, but also for techni-cal and professional training and technical scholarships and fellowships.
In the field of cultural cooperation, the RCD Cultural Institute, situated in Tehran with branches in Islamabad and Istanbul, has, in its attempt to create awareness of the common cultural heritage of the people of the Region, undertaken research in historical, religious and cultural development of the member countries. The Institute has, since its inception in 1966, published over forty books, both classic and contemporary, in the field of art, culture and literature. It brings out a widely circulated quarterly journal and main-tains a library which contains over four thousand books. RCD has a very extensive programme for annual exchange of visits of eminent personalities, painters along-with ex-hibits, professors and teachers, performing artists, sportsman. youths, etc. A special exchange programme also exists to foster closer cooperation between the women orga-nisations of the three member countries.
Finally, in the realm of information and public relations the RCD Secretariat, inter alia, issues press releases, brings out a booklet on the occasion of RCD Anniversary each July, prints and distributes a diary each year and has produced many publications. To secure closer cooperation between the news media of the region, there exist regular exchange programmes and seminars for journalists and continuous consultation between the heads of the radio/television and the news agencies of the three member countries. Attempts have also been made for the greater projection of RCD outside the Region through foreign information and news media.