By News Centre

While the first stage of the Development Road, which will connect Turkiye to the Fav Port in the Persian Gulf with a 1,200-kilometer railway and highway, is set to open next year, the second Council of Ministers meeting was held in Baghdad yesterday with the participation of Turkiye, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The ministers of the four countries met face-to-face for the first time after the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

Our door is open to everyone

At the meeting, a declaration was signed between the four countries. With the declaration, a decision was made to put forward a long-term work plan, and the first step towards the institutionalization of the project was taken. The text emphasized that this point was reached with the development of the working team, good neighborliness, and strategic cooperation strategies. It was stated that the door was open for cooperation and for countries that wanted to be included in the project. It was decided to develop mutual trade, goods, and cargo transportation between the party countries in order to make international transportation more attractive with the New Silk Road Project.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uralo?lu said, “As you know, Turkiye is in a strategic position in the transportation between Asia and Europe. The Middle Corridor passing through the Caspian Sea, which offers significant advantages in terms of distance and time, is a good example of the cooperation we carry out in order to evaluate the opportunities offered by this position. With this initiative, we are realizing our goal of creating an uninterrupted railway corridor between the two continents by implementing the Modern Iron Silk Road extending from Far Asia to Western Europe.”

Uralo?lu, who drew attention to the fact that they reiterated their determination regarding this strategic project, which will contribute greatly to the stability and prosperity of the entire region, especially Iraq, with the declaration they signed, said, "I believe that all of us wanting to start working in the field as soon as possible will contribute to reaching our goals in a short time." Emphasizing that the Development Path is the largest project to be implemented, Uralo?lu underlined that there is great interest from international organizations for financing.

Full capacity operation can be brought forward by 2 years

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Uralo?lu also made evaluations about the projects to be carried out on the Development Road. Uralo?lu pointed out that in addition to highways and railways, energy transmission lines and communication should also be included in the Development Road. He stated that the full capacity operation date of the project could be brought forward by two years, especially with the inclusion of energy transmission lines in the Development Road.