In his opening speech, Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev emphasized the important role that transport plays in the socio-economic development of the Member States. He told that transport is one of the core areas of interest for the ongoing cooperation among the Member States.
Secretary General underscored the significant developments in the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor taking place in the last couple of years, particularly the reduction of logistical expenses along the corridor, facilitation of customs procedures in Aktau Port due to Single Window System and reduction of port charges, which made the transport operations faster and cheaper, opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, completion of projects such as the Marmaray Rail Tunnel, Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Eurasia Tunnel, reconstruction of Bishkek-Naryn-Torugart Road and ongoing development of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project.
He also expressed that cooperation in the field of transport among the Turkic Council Member States is one of the main and important items of the agenda of the Summits. He noted that the Presidents of the Member States have placed a huge emphasis on enhancing the transport cooperation among the Turkic Council Member States and on rendering the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor passing through the Member States countries an efficient and sustainable route in East-West trade.
The 8th Meeting of Turkic Council Working Group on Transport was held one day before the ministerial meeting. During the meeting, experts discussed the measures necessary to be taken to facilitate transport and transit operations (road, railway, sea) among the Member States, to enhance potential multilateral cooperation mechanism and opportunities for the development of the Corridor and to develop transport cooperation between the Member States and Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Hungary.
Member States agreed to conduct a demonstration run of a road trade caravan along the Trans-Caspian Corridor to demonstrate the efficiency of the corridor. They also agreed to organize an International Logistics Forum in Aktau in May 2019 with the participation of government officials, logistics companies of the Member States and regional countries from all transport modes, representatives of the seaports, dry-ports and logistics centres, as well as the representatives of relevant credible regional and international organizations.
Minister of Transport and Roads of the Kyrgyz Republic Zhanat Beishenov underlined the importance of the transit potential Kyrgyzstan possesses along the China-Europe freight link. He stressed that the partnership with the brotherly Turkic Speaking States under the Turkic Council will allow Kyrgyzstan, as a landlock country, to reach open seas and other international transport networks. He informed the Parties about the ongoing infrastructural modernization efforts of his country and invited the Member States to invest in Kyrgyzstan to contribute to its transport infrastructure projects. Mentioning the rich tourism potential of the country, Minister Beishenov highlighted the importance of cooperation in air transportation between Member States and voiced the readiness of Kyrgyzstan to provide favourable conditions to airline companies of the Member States to establish direct cargo and passenger routes.
Highlighting that the Trans-Caspian Corridor is the common future of all Turkic Council Member States Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey Selim Dursun called on the Parties to take necessary steps to phase out administrative and bureaucratic obstacles hampering the efficiency of the corridor. Deputy Minister asked the parties to work together in overcoming the practical difficulties encountered in road transport operations, border crossing points and Caspian Sea crossing to render the corridor seamless and sustainable route, Deputy Minister Dursun also informed the Parties that Turkey, in cooperation with Azerbaijan and Georgia, has conducted for the first time a rail shipment from Mersin, Turkey to Baku by means of a single consignment note under the Unified Railway Law (URL) efforts of the UNECE.
Reflecting the instructions of the First President Nazarbayev during the Summit in Cholpon-Ata where he pointed out the necessity to work intensely to simplify the tariff policies and administrative procedures, Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Berik Kamaliev informed that the government has already optimized the transport tariffs along the Trans-Caspian Corridor. He also expressed that the development of logistic centres is one of the main components of foreign economic and trade relations of Kazakhstan with Turkic Council Member States and stressed the necessity of providing efficient transport logistic infrastructure for the competitivity of the corridor. Vice Minister also noted the readiness of Kazakhstan to conduct an International Logistic Forum in May 2019 in Aktau in partnership with Turkic Council and called for the active participation of Turkic Council Member States.
Head of the Department for Regulation of Transport, Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan Javid Najafov updated the participants on the ongoing transport projects and modernization of transport-logistic infrastructure of Azerbaijan. He mentioned that Government of Azerbaijan attaches particular importance to the optimization and facilitation of the measures for increasing the efficiency of Trans Caspian Corridor.
State Secretary responsible for Transport Policy, Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary László Mosoczi emphasized that the Government of Hungary is open for cooperation with Turkic Council Member States. Highlighting the Turkic States’ transit potential, State Secretary stated that Hungary with its close EU relations may work as a collecting and distributing point at the western end of the Trans-Turkic route. He also stressed that Hungary welcomes the developments of bilateral collaboration and exchanges in the field of international road transport with the Turkic Council Member States.
During the meeting Deputy Director General of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Akbar Karimov made a presentation on the current state of cooperation among the Turkic Council Sister Ports, as well as on their potential to attract freight flow in China-Europe axis, in his capacity as the host of the last Sister Ports meeting.
At the end of the meeting the representatives of seaports of the Turkic Council Member States signed the Additional Protocol allowing “Port Kuryk” LLP to become a party to the Turkic Council Sister Ports process.
Parties agreed to convene the 5th meeting of Ministers of Transport of the Turkic Council in Budapest, Hungary in 2020.
After the ministerial meeting, Secretary General and the Heads of Delegations held a joint press conference on the outcomes of the meeting and their joint future projections.
