Turkish President Erdogan has announced plans for an alternative trade corridor to the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) agreed by the US and EU at the G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month.
According to the US and the EU, IMEC will connect Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan and Israel by rail, entirely bypassing Turkey as it leads on to Europe and India by ship.
Analysts say it is a counterbalance to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Ankara, however, views IMEC as a threat to Turkey’s historically central role in transporting goods between Europe and Asia.
Erdogan said that “there can be no corridor without Turkey”, threatening to “part ways with the EU”.
A significant chunk of Erdogan’s alternative corridor relies on co-opting Iraq’s Development Road project. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan insisted that “intensive negotiations” were underway with Iraq, the UAE and Qatar for a transport route into Turkey from the Great Faw Port in the oil-rich Basra province in southern Iraq.
Construction of the $17bn Development Road is already underway in Basra.
Designed by Italian company Progetti Europa & Global, the project will construct railway and road lines extending from Grand Faw Port through the cities of Diwaniyah, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad and Mosul before traversing over the Turkish border via Silopi and on to Europe. It is also predicted to provide Iraq with access to Mersin Port on Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline.
Source: www.railway-technology.com