Turkic states meet to promote Middle Corridor rail freight route

The national rail operators of the five member states of the Organisation of Turkic States — Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, plus observer state, Turkmenistan — met to discuss the potential for increasing rail freight traffic and boosting the Middle Corridor transit route at the first OTS Multimodal Transport & Logistics Forum held in Istanbul on 13-14 September, Railway Gazette reports.

According to the report, the Minister for Transport & Infrastructure in Turkiye, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said Turkiye is ‘very focused’ on increasing rail freight between OTS members and was at the last stages of concluding agreements with several of them.

“Turkiye was working closely with Azerbaijan to fulfil the potential of the long mooted Zangezur Corridor, and is also trying to reopen a rail corridor from Turkiye to Iraq’s port of Basra,” Uraloglu said.

Already implemented is an online e-permit system with Uzbekistan allowing instant online access to customs documentation, which he expects to support a 10-fold increase in rail freight between the two countries, the report said.

The report added that Turkiye plans to implement similar systems with other trading partners.

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