Oriented on making people closer

Turkmenistan can become an important transport hub between Europe and Asia. Our country has a modern port infrastructure on the Caspian Sea, the importance of which as an international corridor for the transit of goods on the continent is only increasing, Deputy Director General of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Batyr Annayev said at the opening of the Global Gateway Investor Forum in Brussels.

The forum brought together representatives of the government, financial institutions, businesses from Europe, Central Asia and other countries. The participants discuss the necessary investments and actions to transform the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor into a multimodal and efficient route connecting Europe and Central Asia.

Presenting Turkmenistan's transport capabilities, Batyr Annayev noted that in recent years the country has actively invested in infrastructure development, including rail, road, air and sea routes. Today, more than five thousand kilometers of steel roads provide reliable communication between the regions and have significant transit potential. The Turkmenbashi International Seaport with a capacity of 25 million tons per year is a major transport hub in the west of the country with access to world trade routes. The launch of new projects in the aviation industry, such as the construction of the seventh airport in the country, will increase the capacity of national airports by 3,800 passengers per hour. The second section of the 600-kilometer Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway, which is of strategic importance for the logistics of cargo transportation, is being prepared for commissioning.

At the same time, special emphasis is placed on the mechanisms of state support for investments in the transport sector. In particular, foreign investors have equal rights with local investors, they can own and manage enterprises, participate in privatization, gain access to public procurement and enjoy other benefits. According to the results of the Assessment of Development financing, state budget revenues account for the largest share in the total volume of financial flows, which amount to 36.2%, private investments account for 34%, and loans from the banking sector account for 16.5%.

In modern conditions of uncertainty in the management of supply chains, transport routes passing through the countries of Central Asia open up not only great opportunities for establishing sustainable and safe transportation, but also promising investment opportunities for European companies. "In this regard, we are interested in sharing experience in the development of transport infrastructure, the introduction of digital technologies for traffic management, and also welcome major European logistics operators interested in using existing logistics capacities and in creating new cross-border trade and logistics hubs in Turkmenistan," Batyr Annayev said.

Cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and the EU in the field of transport is an important contribution to strengthening economic ties in the region, he stressed, inviting all interested parties to discuss specific transport cooperation projects.

The current dialogue in Brussels opens a new page in the development of the Trans-Caspian Corridor and progress towards tangible results, when the transport network is considered as part of an expanded and in-depth EU-Central Asia interaction. Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrel, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, heads of the transport industry and representatives of the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan spoke at the opening of the forum.

On the first day of the Forum, several specific commitments were announced

to ensure sustainable transport links in Central Asia. At the parallel thematic session, the possibilities of reducing transit time between Central Asia and Europe, increasing operational efficiency, improving land transport infrastructure and other communication problems from the point of view of multimodality and logistics were considered.

ORIENT news

Photo: orient.tm