Today, Saturday, the Minister of Transport, Razzaq Muhaibas Al-Saadawi, met with Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Oraloglu, and his entourage in Baghdad to discuss the development road project.
“We discussed a number of issues related to the development road project with the Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure,” Al-Saadawi said in a statement issued by the ministry’s media office, clarifying that the discussion included technical, legal, and financial difficulties.
He went on to say that the conference, which was attended by high-level officials from both nations, also went through the project’s economic model and how to build and run its numerous programs.
Al-Saadawi said that joint committees had been created between Baghdad and Ankara to review technical, financial, and legal concerns, with the goal of resolving any issues before beginning work on the project’s implementation.
According to the statement, the two sides emphasized the need of undertaking field trips to land and railway link locations between the two nations.
Mr. Abdulkadir Oraloglu, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, began his speech during the meeting by expressing condolences and sympathy to the Iraqi government and people over the Hamdaniyah incident, emphasizing his country’s government’s support and support for Iraq, as well as its full readiness to provide any assistance that strengthens the relationship and cooperation between the two countries.
Oglu examined the volume of economic exchange between Baghdad and Ankara, observing that transport corridors are expanding all over the world.
He stated that “the development path will be the gold medalist among those paths,” noting that “the Turkish government worked to form a coordination council with a number of European countries regarding the development path, and therefore we hope that there will be another coordination council that includes Iraq and the countries of the region.”
The value of the development road project is projected at 17 billion dollars to connect a significant port for cargo, “Al-Faw Grand Port,” on the southern Iraqi coast to the Turkish border by constructing a railway and road network.
The development route proposes to connect the oil-rich port of Al-Faw in southern Iraq with Turkey, transforming the nation into a transit hub by decreasing travel time between Asia and Europe in a bid to compete with the Suez Canal.
The Iraqi government plans to build high-speed trains capable of moving products and passengers at speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, as well as to connect lines to local industrial and energy hubs, which might include oil and gas pipelines.
The main transportation roadways will be linked to the main port of Al-Faw on the Gulf’s coastlines, according to the proposals, by updating and developing more than 1.2 thousand kilometers of trains and highways connecting Iraq to neighboring nations.
