The 3rd Meeting of the Railway Cooperation Working Group and Heads of Railway Administrations organised by the Organisation of Turkic States (CSTO) was held in Bishkek with the participation of sister countries. During the meeting, the issues of developing cooperation in the field of railway transport between the Turkic Republics, strengthening transport corridors and expanding multimodal transport were discussed.
TCDD Tasimacilik AS. participated with a delegation headed by Deputy General Manager Çetin Altun.
Speaking at the meeting, Çetin Altun, Deputy General Manager of TCDD Tasimacilik AŞ, emphasised the importance of the solidarity between the Turkic States and the common goals in the field of railway:
“We are very pleased to meet with representatives of friendly and brotherly countries in Bishkek, which has a special place in Turkish history and culture. Today, we aim to strengthen transport networks along the Central Corridor and Southern Corridor, increase cooperation and improve the efficiency of global supply chains.”
Altun stated that Turkey is a natural bridge between Asia and Europe and that this position brings great responsibility and opportunities to regional transport policies.
Emphasising that the strategic importance of the Trans-Caspian Corridor has increased, Altun stated that projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) Line, Marmaray Tube Transit and Bandirma-Tekirdag Train Ferry have strengthened the transport on the Middle Corridor.
“To date, 17.7 million tonnes of cargo has been transported on the BTK line and 26.1 million tonnes of cargo has been transported across the country”
Stating that Turkey has made significant progress in freight transport, Altun said that 17.7 million tonnes of freight has been transported on the BTK line and 26.1 million tonnes of freight has been transported across the country. He said that it is aimed to operate 200 block trains per year in the medium term and 1,500 block trains in the long term.
Altun also stated that Kars Logistics Centre and Kars-Iğdır-Dilucu Railway Project will strengthen regional integration and integrate with the Zengezur Corridor.
He concluded his speech by stating that he believed that this meeting under the umbrella of the Organisation of Turkic States would “further strengthen brotherhood, solidarity and railway cooperation among the countries”.
“Railway Cooperation and Middle Corridor Studies were discussed”
Following the opening speeches, the current situation and prospects for increasing the volume of freight transport by rail between the CIS member states, the development of container and multimodal transport along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor (Middle Corridor), the progress made in the Action Plan on cooperation between the railways of the CIS member states and the implications of the Work Plan of the Committee on Trade Facilitation for 2025 for railway transport were discussed.
Strengthening the activities of the CIS Railway Working Group, evaluations on signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the CIS and the Organisation for Inter-railway Cooperation (OSJD), presentations of the member countries, approval of the Draft Protocol of the Meeting and determination of the date and venue of the next meeting were also among the agenda items.
