Turkey aspires to play a key role in the international transit industry with the country’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu to declare that “Turkey is ready for any kind of cooperation in order to be part of the trade route under construction Via Carpathia,” through which the Baltic will be connected with the Aegean.
The Turkish minister underlined that Turkey wants to be part of this plan by creating a middle road that will connect China with Europe and pass through the neighboring country. Also, Ankara also requests to participate in the Development Road being created, considering that its participation, together with Iraq, can connect the Persian Gulf with Europe bypassing Suez.
At the same time, Turkey, in the context of strengthening its profile as a “strategically important regional factor between the West and the East,” Uraloğlu, announced the reopening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, as a development of particular importance for the perspective of the local Zangezur Corridor (closely connected to the course of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia), but also more widely, as a potential transport link of Russia, via Georgia, in the area.
Uraloğlu added that the Via Carpathia Otorol project is directly related to Turkey due to its direct connection with the Central Corridor [Middle Road], which starts from the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania and will extend through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria to the port of Thessaloniki and from there to Istanbul.
He also emphasized that this project can also be an important field of economic activity and opportunities for Turkey, taking into account the competitiveness and production quality of Turkish companies in the world market. Uraloğlu noted that the Via Carpathia highway project will ensure the direct delivery of products produced in Turkey or coming to Turkey through the Central Corridor and the Development Road to the neighboring countries of the Baltic, Adriatic, Aegean and of the Black Sea and stated that this project will also make a significant contribution to international transport.