Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Baghdad to cooperate on the Iraq Development Road project that would connect the Gulf to Europe, during a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
The deal was inked by the transportation ministers from each country in the presence of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani and Erdogan, who was on his first visit to Iraq in 12 years.
The memorandum commits the signatory states to establish the necessary frameworks to implement the project, which aims to establish a 1,200km highway and railway project that would link the Gulf to Turkey through Iraq.
Iraq, Turkey and Gulf Arab states plan to carry goods through al-Faw port in Iraq’s Basra governorate to international markets via Turkey.
Emirati company, the AD Ports Group, last week signed a preliminary agreement with joint venture partner General Company for Ports of Iraq. The new joint venture will develop al-Faw Grand Port and its economic zone.
The Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a statement that the four-way deal “will contribute to stimulating economic growth and strengthening regional and international cooperation between the East and West”, and it will also provide a “new competitive transport route, and promote regional economic prosperity”.
(Middle East Eye)
