Iran-Turkey Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group President Adil Najafzadeh and the delegation headed by TCDD Taşımacılık AŞ General Manager Ufuk Yalçın held a meeting in Ankara.
At the meeting held with the delegation that came to our country between 23-27 January as the guest of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, information was exchanged on the topics of what should be done in order to make the railway transportation between Iran and Turkey more effective and efficient.
We are happy that the strongest and two sister countries of this geography are together
TCDD Transportation General Manager Ufuk Yalçın made the opening speech of the meeting and said:
“We welcome Adil Najafzadeh, Chairman of the Iran-Turkey Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, and all friends. We were honored to host you in our country and our institution. We are happy to have the strongest two brotherly countries in this geography together. We have a lot of work to do, especially in terms of increasing our mutual cooperation to a certain point in the development of the railway.
In this sense, we continue our negotiations with Iranian railways and passenger transport companies about the works we will do for our future, the improvement of the works we have done before, and the elimination of the problems we have experienced during these processes. Today, we are together to develop our cooperation and share our expectations. We will express our wishes. We want to listen to Adil Bey's expectations and wishes.”
General Manager Ufuk Yalçın made a brief briefing on the railways and continued his words as follows:
”In 2017, with the Law on the Liberalization of Turkish Railway Transport, the General Directorate of State Railways was divided into 2. The General Directorate of State Railways Operations continues its activities as infrastructure works. We, as the General Directorate of TCDD Transportation, continue our railway freight and passenger transportation activities. We also have a company called TÜRASAŞ, which carries out the maintenance, repair, revision and manufacturing of the towed vehicles on the railways. Therefore, there are 3 big companies on our side as railways.”
In 2017, 465 thousand tons of cargo was transported to Iran as export, import and transit. It was realized as 2022 thousand tons of cargo in 785.
“We transported 2017 thousand tons of cargo to Iran in our year of establishment in 465, including export-import and transit. In this past 2022, we increased this amount of cargo to 785 thousand tons. During our work, we reached this point with the mutual devotion of both the Iranian State Railways and the Turkish State Railways. However, when we evaluate the potential of these two countries, we do not find them sufficient. We are in an effort to increase our rail freight transports to higher levels. In addition, we want to restart passenger transportation, which we stopped due to the Pandemic in 2. Hopefully, our meeting will contribute to improving our mutual cooperation in this sense.”
In his speech at the meeting, Adil Najafzadeh, Chairman of the Iran-Turkey Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, said:
We Must Make the Most of Our Railway Potential
“I greet the people of Iran and Turkey. Almighty Allah has made Iran and Turkey a common destiny in a common geography and has given both countries very good blessings. We are on very important transportation corridors in a very important geography. Today, we cannot say that these corridors are used most effectively and efficiently. Today, the most important factor affecting the final price of products in world trade is transportation. The world wants to come to the forefront of competition with new transportation corridors. Iran and Turkey should succeed in making the most of these transportation corridors. There are high-level relations and negotiations between Iran and Turkey. We are aware of the importance of transportation in the world economy. We must facilitate transportation and remove the obstacles. We must make the best use of our railway potential. We do not use this potential today. Iran has many potentials. Iran also wants Turkish investors to start operating for wagon production. If we join forces, we can make very good investments. During Erdogan's visit to Iran, a memorandum of understanding was signed for the establishment of Joint Free Zones. Railway investments are of great importance for the success of these regions. We are here representing the Iranian people. These are the demands of the people. We are making our plans. We want to organize a conference on Joint Free Zones and customs and increase the trade between the two countries. Our current trade is very small considering the potential of both countries.”
Strong Turkey Strong Iran, Strong Iran Means Strong Turkey
Pointing out that steps should be taken in the field of tourism, Najafzadeh stated that the studies for the operation of passenger trains between the two countries are also continuing. Najafzedeh said that the Tabriz line has great potential to be a logistics line and that Turkey is open to suggestions for improving the railway infrastructure, and said, "Strong Turkey means Strong Iran, Strong Iran means Strong Turkey."
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