For the Second Meeting of the Transport Trends and Economy Working Group (WP.5) of the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul Corridors ECO/UNEC Coordination Committee with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Economic Cooperation Organization in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan representatives of railway administrations met in Istanbul on 6-8 June.
The meeting hosted by TCDD Transportation General Directorate was attended by Deputy General Manager Çetin Altun, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure General Manager of European Union and Foreign Relations Burak Aykan, UNEC Transportation Trends and Economy Working Group Head Es de Wit, ECO Transportation and Communications Department Head Akbar Khodaei and senior officials attended.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, TCDD Transportation Deputy General Manager Çetin Altun emphasized the importance of establishing a more effective cooperation environment in the region by emphasizing the cooperation between member countries and the development of transportation between member countries and third countries.
We aim to carry more than 6,5 million tons of cargo from the BTK Railway Line in the Long Term
Çetin Altun, Deputy General Manager, continued his words as follows: “We carry 200 thousand tons of cargo with an average of 88 trains per day, both at home and abroad. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line opened on October 30, 2017 from Asia to Europe with the Central Corridor; The demand for this railway corridor, which was created while providing transportation opportunities in a wide hinterland from Russia to the Middle East and Africa, is increasing. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line and the Iron Silk Road stand out as a very important international railway corridor, thanks to the many advantages it offers such as being more economical, shorter, safer and more favorable climate. Marmaray Bosphorus Tube Crossing; The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, as the golden ring of the Middle Corridor, enables uninterrupted rail transport between continents. It is possible for containers to reach Turkey from China in 12 days and from China to Europe in 18 days via the middle corridor and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line. We aim to transport more than 6,5 million tons of cargo from the BTK Railway line in the long term.
Increasing the Freight Transport Volume of Railways to 1 Million Tons Annual Collaborations Continue
Deputy General Manager Altun: “According to the decisions taken at the 28th Meeting of the Turkey-Iran Joint Transport Commission held in Tehran on April 29-2019, 8, with the aim of increasing the annual railway freight transport volume between the two countries, which was 2019 thousand tons in 350, to 1 million tons. We continue to work in cooperation. In addition, within the scope of the United Nations World Food Program, aid transports from our country to Afghanistan via the Iran (İnceburun) - Turkmenistan (Etrek) border connection continue. Freight transportation with Central Asian countries continues through Iran/Turkmenistan border connection Sarakhs.”
Developments in the World Show How Important International Cooperation is
Burak Aykan, General Manager of European Union Foreign Relations at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, said, “I hope that our event will be fruitful for all participants, and I believe that the new visions to be set forth on this occasion will make significant contributions to determining future policies. As it is known, the Kovid-2019 epidemic, which emerged at the end of December 19, has affected all humanity as a global problem in a short time. The prolonged period due to the epidemic has shown us that all transportation modes and routes are open to unforeseen risks and difficulties that cannot be overcome in the short or medium term; It has given very important lessons in terms of understanding the importance of reliable supply chains and bringing the importance of international cooperation to the agenda.”
Increasing the Capacity of the Line in the Middle Corridor is Important
Stating that the Russia-Ukraine war, which broke out before it could overcome the effects of the epidemic process, caused a serious energy, food and economic crisis on a global scale, General Manager Aykan said:
“We are fulfilling all our responsibilities to help all countries in the region affected by this situation, which poses the risk of famine in the poorest countries in the world, especially in Africa. So far, the amount of grain transported by 963 ships over the "grain corridor" has reached 31 million tons. All these factors that I have mentioned have fundamentally affected transportation mobility around the world, and in particular the East-West routes connecting China to Europe. Troubles in the corridors, the Middle Corridor, which is considered to be the “the safest, fastest, cheapest, stable and low-cost route” in the East-West trade, including Turkey, comes to the fore. In order not to miss this historic opportunity in the Middle Corridor, it is important to quickly resolve the problems on the current route and increase the capacity of the line," he said.
At the meeting, up-to-date information on the developments in the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul corridor countries, on-going projects, as well as on the opportunities and opportunities created in business administration were presented. In addition, the drafting of the coordination committee's work program 2023-25 and the 2023-24 biennial work program, assessment of transport infrastructure and identification of missing links, renewal requirements, digitization, harmonization and standardization of transport documents in corridors, availability of reliable corridor-wide tariffs and tariffs. and other issues hindering regular rail transport services in both corridors, evaluating the efficiency of border crossing along the route in both corridors and identifying, prioritizing and implementing border crossing facilitation initiatives, strengthening the economic viability and resilience of the corridors as well as their environmental performance were discussed.
At the end of the meeting, a technical visit was made to the participants of the meeting on Marmaray.