Work on new $20bnGulf-Europe trade route to start in 2025
Published: 31 August 2024
Four-way meeting between Turkey, Qatar, Iraq, and the UAE held in Istanbul
Agencies
Dubai
Work on a $20bn new major trade route for the transport of goods between the Arabian Gulf and Europe is expected to start in the middle of next year, Iraq’s Transport Minister has said.
Razzaq Al Saadawi said this at a press conference in Istanbul after a four-way meeting between Turkey, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar on Thursday.
Turkey hosted transport ministers from Iraq, Qatar and the UAE in Istanbul to discuss building the estimated $20 billion trade route connecting the Arabian Gulf to Europe.
Baghdad will host a meeting in two months to discuss progress on the Development Road project, Razzaq Al Saadawi added.
“The first phase of the strategic development road project will be implemented in the middle of next year, after the completion of the detailed design phase of the project,” Al Saadawi said during the press conference with Turkey’s Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
“Work to complete the requirements of the Development Road is proceeding well, with great support from our gov-ernment, which looks forward to a strong economy and diversification of sources of income, in a way that serves Iraq, the region and the world.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking financing from the UAE and Qatar to build the project which in-cludes a rail and road network from Iraq’s Faw port on the Persian Gulf to its northern border with Turkey and a rail-way across Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait bridging Europe and Asia.
For Erdogan, attracting UAE support is critical for the so-called Development Road project because the Gulf country is also involved in talks for a competing US-backed project, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. Turkey has said the Development Road would be a shorter route and that cargo demand could be sufficient to support both pro-jects.
The port will be linked to Turkey and onward to Europe through an intricate network of railways and highways.
It was first such meeting since the countries signed a memorandum of understanding to co-operate on the project during Erdogan’s visit to Baghdad in April.
