Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, drew attention to the importance of regional cooperation in the Middle Corridor and said that increasing this cooperation will create new opportunities in the international arena for countries to get a larger share of the trade volume and investment environment between Asia and Europe.
Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, said, “In the light of global and regional conditions, we propose the establishment of a ‘Joint Road Transport Coordination Board’ within the Organization of Turkish States in order to redefine our road transport strategies and keep these strategies up-to-date at all times.”
Karaismailoğlu, in his speech at the 2nd Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Transport of Turkey-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan held in Aktau, Kazakhstan, pointed out that Turkey is an important country in terms of supply chain. He stated that the trucks using the routes now have to use other options.
Karaismailoğlu stated that Turkey’s land, sea and railway connections gain more importance not only in the trade between Central Asia and Turkey, but also between the European Union and Central Asia and Asia.
Minister Karaismailoğlu stated that the land transportation transit quotas between Turkey-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan should be released and thus the freight flow between Europe and Asia should be facilitated, and said, “In the light of global and regional conditions, we want to redefine our land transportation strategies and keep these strategies up to date. We propose the establishment of a ‘Joint Road Transport Coordination Board’ within the Organization of Turkish States,” he said. Minister Karaismailoğlu reminded that they signed the “Combined Transport Agreement” between the member states of the Organization of Turkish States on November 11, and said:
“We know that there are some difficulties that we have to overcome regarding the liberalization of transit passages for the Kazakhstan side. The roadmap we will sign today includes an action item to find a solution to this issue. We have also agreed with Azerbaijan on the liberalization of transit transportation within the scope of this roadmap. We will soon We will formalize this agreement.”
Expressing that they aim to become a logistics base in the Middle Corridor as Turkey, Karaismailoğlu said, “Our goal is to build Turkey with railways designed not only for carrying passengers but also for carrying freight in the next 30 years.” made its assessment.
Karaismailoğlu stated that they attach great importance to the start of passenger transportation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway and used the following statements:
“Recently, during our visit to Georgia with Nabiyev, I offered to extend the Eastern Express passenger transport operating between Ankara and Kars as far as Baku. Recently, a member of the Railway Cooperation Organization located in Czechia was sent to us, starting from Czechia and extending to Kazakhstan. We received an application that it wants to carry out touristic passenger transportation on the route (Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) in 2024. To underline once again that we need to make more efforts to remove the obstacles in front of these demands. I want.”
Reiterating Azerbaijan’s desire to open the Zangezur Corridor, Karaismailoğlu said, “We believe that the completion of the construction of the Nakhchivan-Kars Railway as a continuation of the corridor, together with the opening of the Zangezur Corridor, will contribute significantly to the intensification of transport relations between the two countries.”
“We would like to start the e-permit application with Georgia and Kazakhstan”
Minister Karaismailoğlu stated that they support the establishment of a common digital platform that will show all administrative and technical processes in a transparent and impartial way from the receipt of the cargo to its delivery, and said:
There is a demand for freight shifting from the northern corridor, which has millions of TEUs in the railway area, to the Middle Corridor, where tens of thousands of transport activities take place. You agree that it is not possible for our existing lines to meet this demand. Even if we run the existing lines at full capacity and make double lines for each kilometer, we cannot meet this demand. As it can be understood from here, when all lines are operating at full efficiency, it is not possible for the countries benefiting from the cargoes coming to the Middle Corridor to decrease in the cargo volume. For this reason, the steps we take will benefit all of us.” You agree that it is not possible for our existing lines to meet this demand. Even if we run the existing lines at full capacity and make double lines for each kilometer, we cannot meet this demand. As it can be understood from here, when all lines are operating at full efficiency, it is not possible for the countries benefiting from the cargoes coming to the Middle Corridor to decrease in the cargo volume. For this reason, the steps we take will benefit all of us.” You agree that it is not possible for our existing lines to meet this demand. Even if we run the existing lines at full capacity and make double lines for each kilometer, we cannot meet this demand. As it can be understood from here, when all lines are operating at full efficiency, it is not possible for the countries benefiting from the cargoes coming to the Middle Corridor to decrease in the cargo volume. For this reason, the steps we take will benefit all of us.”
