Turkey to strengthen cooperation with Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia

Istanbul: Turkey has established a ministerial council with Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia to boost regional transport and logistics cooperation.

At the first meeting of the Quadrilateral Ministerial Coordination Council, the delegates from the four countries signed deals on implementing projects for improving the railroads between the countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We are taking a new step every day in the development of the Middle Corridor, which has become a center of attraction,” Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu said in a press release.

The Middle Corridor is a trans-Caspian transport route that links Turkey and Europe with China.

The Turkish minister noted that the cooperation among the four countries would significantly contribute to the improvement of this trade corridor.

“The increase in trade volume between China and Europe alone signifies the geopolitical importance of our countries,” he stressed.

Karaismailoglu noted that it takes only about 12 days for a freight train from China to reach Turkey by using the Middle Corridor, referring to the 8,693-km railroad linking Istanbul and the Chinese city of Xi’an.

The council’s first declared ambition is to have a railroad transportation volume of over 440 million tonnes through the Middle Corridor within 30 years, compared to today’s about 38 million, he said.