Transport Corridors Key To Trade: Turkish Minister

Transnational transport corridors are keys to trade and development, Transport, Maritime and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan said on Wednesday.



Speaking at the 33rd Ministerial Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul, Arslan said: "For a sustainable and environment-friendly transport mechanism, the development of transnational corridors based on railways and combined transport is a necessity."



He said international trade accounts for 50.6 percent of global gross domestic product while trade volume is expected to rise 350 percent by 2050.



"Turkey is located in the middle of important trade routes, which links rising Asian economies, Europe and Africa," he said.



"Over the past 15 years, Turkey has been following inclusive and complementary transportation policies in the region."



Highlighting on "qualified and uninterrupted transportation infrastructure" as a precondition to a working corridor, Arslan said Turkey had invested more than $350 billion to improve its transportation infrastructure over the last 15 years.



"We have also effectively implemented the build-operate-transfer model for mega projects instead of using only public resources," he added.



The minister also said non-physical barriers played a key role in the development of transnational transport corridors.



"Such barriers increase operation costs and transport time," he said.



"According to the World Bank, these obstacles have also notable negative effects on competitiveness of developing countries.



Logistics, combined transport



"In this sense, our basic priorities are liberalization, reconciliation and facilitation policies for international transport," Arslan said, noting that Turkey had signed full liberalization agreements with 24 countries in land transport out of its 70 trade partners from three continents.



"Turkey became one of the most preferred destinations for international transit transport, as we had taken measures to ease border crossing and become a party to almost all of the United Naiton's basic transport agreements," he said.



"We have put a great emphasis on our railway investments to ensure a balance among different types of transport and to improve combined transport," Arslan said.



The minister said Turkey had made public investments in railways, amounting to nearly 60 billion Turkish liras (some $32 billion) since 2003, to build high-speed train lines and to improve existing lines.



Highlighting the vital importance of logistic services for transnational transport corridors, Arslan said: "Simplifying freight services with latest technological opportunities, and development of storage and transfer operations are conducive to concentration of trade flows on certain corridors.



"With its market volume of nearly 39 billion euros [$46 billion], the Turkish logistic sector has a critical position in the region," he said.



"In addition, we have planned to construct 21 logistic centers across the country, as eight of them have already started to operate.



"These efforts will contribute significantly to make the corridors…a center of attraction."



"Transnational transport corridors" is the focus of the 33rd Ministerial Session of the COMCEC, which was established during the 3rd Islamic Summit held in 1981 and became operational in 1984.



As the highest ministerial platform for the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN -- the COMCEC aims to improve economic and commercial relations among member countries. The organization has its headquarters in Ankara and is chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. -