Silkroad Development Agency (SDA) operating under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology and it was established with the Council of Ministers' decision No. 2009/15236, published in the Official Gazette dated July 25, 2009, pursuant to the "Law on the Establishment, Coordination and Duties of Development Agencies" No. 5449 dated January 25, 2006. It was lastly revised with the Presidential Decree on the Organization of Institutions and Organizations Under, Affiliated with, Linked to the Ministries, and Other Institutions and Organizations No. 4. The headquarters of the Agency, covering the TRC1 NUTS 2 Region comprising of Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Kilis provinces, is located in Gaziantep and there are Investment Support Offices (ISO) in these provinces where the Agency operates.

The main duties of the (SDA) include accelerating regional and local development in the TRC1 NUTS 2 Region, adopting sustainable development approaches, preparing regional plans in order to reduce inter-regional and intra-regional development disparities and contributing to the projects enabling the implementation of these plans, providing the incentive to form the basis for regional development among all stakeholders in the region, and helping increase the institutional capacity of the stakeholders.

The Governors, Mayors, Provincial Assembly Presidents and Presidents of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce of the provinces in the region constitute the Board of Directors of SDA. The Development Board, which consists of representatives of the public, private sector and non-governmental organizations, gives opinions and suggestions to the Board of Directors. The Secretariat General, which is the executive organ, carries out its activities with its personnel who are experts in their fields, have a good command of foreign languages, and are experienced in the public and private sectors. There are 5 working units, 3 investment support offices, and 28 experts and 7 support personnel working under the General Secretariat.