Turkmenistan attends OEC transport ministers' meeting - what prospects
The Turkmen delegation took part in the 11th meeting of the Transport Ministers of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEC). The meeting was held in online format on Wednesday and was dedicated to the topic of simplifying transit procedures in the post-pandemic period.
Heads of transport departments made suggestions on mechanisms to facilitate and normalize transit transports, as well as spoke about future ways to increase transport stability in the region.
Turkmenistan was represented at the meeting by the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers. According to its leader, Mammetkhan Chakiyev, an example of effective stimulation of the development of trade, economic and investment relations in the region is the commissioned North-South railway in 2014, which connects Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.
Separately, the OES carried out analytical work on the elimination of physical and non-physical barriers along the railway corridor, as well as the connection of a wide railway track at the Etrek Turkmen station with the Iranian steel roads in early March 2021, which will allow the process to accelerate and accelerate. times will increase the attractiveness of this corridor for freight forwarders.
The draft Memorandum of Understanding between the railway administrations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the implementation of the railway of Kazakhstan (Turkmenistan) was developed by the Memorandum of Understanding between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran on the coordination of the OES between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. within the framework of the 15th Summit of the Heads of State of the OECD in Ashgabat.
The memorandum implies the establishment of a Working Group between the three railway administrations of the above-mentioned countries to increase the movement of freight trains in this direction. The first meeting of such a Working Group was held on December 27, 2021.
The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway is not only an economically and commercially viable project, it is also a serious factor in geopolitics that can have a positive impact on the overall situation in the region and beyond. Without limiting the development of domestic railway networks, Turkmenistan is actively involved in the construction of railway lines and abroad. Examples of this are the 1 phase (10 km) of the Akina-Andhoi railway line, which was commissioned in 2019, and the 2 phase (35 km) in 2020.
These projects are aimed at integrating Afghanistan into the regional transport network with the prospect of entering the Asia-Pacific region. Thus, the country has a real opportunity to become an important link in the international transport corridors passing through the territory of Central Asia in the directions "North-South" and "East-West".
On October 29, 2021, the opening of the 203-kilometer Ashgabat-Tejen Road, the first section of the Ashgabat-Turkmenistan high-speed highway, took place. The high-speed 600-kilometer Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway should significantly increase the country's traffic network capacity and, as part of the international multimodal system, contribute to the growth of transit traffic.
The Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway, connecting with the Ashgabat-Turkmenbashi route, opens to the seaport in the Caspian Sea, from where the geography of deliveries covers the direction towards the Caucasus and Europe, to the south of Russia, to the north of Iran and to Iran, to Iran and to Persia.
In this context, Turkmenistan proposes to study the use of logistics and infrastructure facilities in its territory in order to intensify transport and transit communication between the regions of the Caspian Basin and the Black Sea with access to the European countries, the Middle East, the ATR. Turkmenistan has also stated its readiness to provide its port facilities in the Caspian Sea to OES partners.
In addition, there are realistic prospects for the implementation of other infrastructure projects in the OES space, in particular in the field of automobile and rail transport.
At present, thanks to the joint efforts of the member states of the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran and Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey corridors, the increase in the number of trucks and railways is increasing, increasing the number of international trains.
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