Post by account_disabled on Feb 22, 2024 5:36:12 GMT -5
Turkey is in “intensive negotiations” over its alternative to the India-Middle East trade corridor plan agreed at this month's G20 summit, as the country seeks to reinforce its historic role as a transport route for goods moving from Asia. to Europe. Ankara has rejected the proposed India-Middle East route that would transport goods from the subcontinent via the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel to European markets. The mooted corridor, backed by the United States and the EU in their attempt to repel China's growing influence, would bypass Turkey entirely. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey, stated after the G20 that “there can be no corridor without Turkey” and added that “the most suitable route for east-west trade must pass through Turkey.
His foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has since doubled down on his skepticism, insisting this week that “experts had doubts that the main objective [of the India-Middle East corridor] was rationality and Pakistan Phone Number efficiency” and suggesting that they were “more geostrategic concerns” at stake. “A trade route does not just mean addressing trade alone. It is also a reflection of geostrategic competition,” Fidan said in response to a question from the Financial Times. Turkey is keen to emphasize its traditional role as a bridge between East and West, a history that dates back centuries to the Silk Roads. Instead, Ankara has promoted an alternative called the Iraq Development Route initiative, and Fidan insisted that “intensive negotiations” were underway with Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over a project that would be forged “in the coming months.
The proposed route, valued at billion, would carry goods from the oil-rich port of Grand Faw in southern Iraq through 10 Iraqi provinces to Turkey, according to diagrams published by the government in Baghdad. The plan would be based on 1,200 kilometers of high-speed rail and a parallel road network. The plan has three phases: the first will be completed in 2028 and the last in 2050. Analysts, however, say there are concerns over the viability of the Development Highway project for financial and security reasons. “Turkey lacks funding to realize the full scope of the project and appears to have support from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to build the proposed infrastructure,” said Emre Peker, European director at the Eurasia Group think tank. “For that to happen, the Gulf States would have to be convinced that their investments would earn good returns, something that is not imminently.
His foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has since doubled down on his skepticism, insisting this week that “experts had doubts that the main objective [of the India-Middle East corridor] was rationality and Pakistan Phone Number efficiency” and suggesting that they were “more geostrategic concerns” at stake. “A trade route does not just mean addressing trade alone. It is also a reflection of geostrategic competition,” Fidan said in response to a question from the Financial Times. Turkey is keen to emphasize its traditional role as a bridge between East and West, a history that dates back centuries to the Silk Roads. Instead, Ankara has promoted an alternative called the Iraq Development Route initiative, and Fidan insisted that “intensive negotiations” were underway with Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over a project that would be forged “in the coming months.
The proposed route, valued at billion, would carry goods from the oil-rich port of Grand Faw in southern Iraq through 10 Iraqi provinces to Turkey, according to diagrams published by the government in Baghdad. The plan would be based on 1,200 kilometers of high-speed rail and a parallel road network. The plan has three phases: the first will be completed in 2028 and the last in 2050. Analysts, however, say there are concerns over the viability of the Development Highway project for financial and security reasons. “Turkey lacks funding to realize the full scope of the project and appears to have support from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to build the proposed infrastructure,” said Emre Peker, European director at the Eurasia Group think tank. “For that to happen, the Gulf States would have to be convinced that their investments would earn good returns, something that is not imminently.