Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said, “We aim to operate more than 200 regular block container trains between China and Turkey via the Central Corridor and BTK railway line in the medium term. On the other hand, with the countries of the region, we have also focused on making the Caspian transit, another important component of the Central Corridor, effective, efficient and economical.”
The Organization of Turkic States (CIS) Multimodal Transport and Logistics Forum held in Istanbul started with the opening speech of Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Uraloğlu. Secretary General of the Turkic States Ambassador Kubanychbek Omuraliev also made an opening speech at the organization. Representatives of the member states of the Organization of Turkic States, heads of railway administrations, representatives of transport and logistics companies and trade organizations also followed the program. At the forum, logistics developments, the future of transport routes, the status of corridors and potential partnerships between the CIS member states were discussed.
Uraloğlu, as the countries of the Organization of Turkic States, we are a community with the potential to become a global power with our young dynamic population of 160 million and our economic size exceeding 1 trillion dollars. To realize this great potential, we must unleash our common power with the will of cooperation and solidarity. In order to remove obstacles to transportation and trade and reduce transportation costs, we must adopt and implement a holistic approach that will be in our common interest within the Organization. In this direction, we need to abolish bilateral and transit road passage document quotas between our brotherly countries. I am pleased to inform you that we have reached an agreement with Kyrgyzstan on the liberalization of bilateral and transit transports and we have reached the final stage. We hope to take such steps with other members as soon as possible. He added.
Minister Uraloglu said that,
“On the other hand, we hope that the Agreement on Combined Transport within the organization will enter into force as soon as possible. When the agreement is implemented, we will significantly encourage combined transport operations and Caspian transit. Thus, we will significantly increase the share of the Caspian transit east-west middle corridor, which we all attach importance to, in Eurasian transportation. As you know, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, which is one of the most important and strategic components of the physical connection between the member states of the Organization, is of great importance for the economic development and prosperity of the Turkic world. As a result of the measures we have taken since April 2016, we are able to carry out transportation by rail in simplified procedure in common and national transit regimes. Two years ago, we started to use the common transport document for freight transportation by rail on the Central Corridor. With the common transport document, we have taken another important step for the competitiveness of the corridor by saving both time and cost. In the medium term, we aim to operate more than 200 regular block container trains per year between China and Turkey via the Central Corridor and the BTK railway line. On the other hand, we have also focused on making the Caspian transit, another important component of the Central Corridor, effective, efficient and economical with the countries in the region.”