Caspian sea to direct the new Silk Road towards Northern Europe
Eurasia is going through a transport boom called the “New Silk Road”. One of the events of this comprehensive drive was the recent launch of the modernized International seaport in Turkmenbashi, which turns Turkmenistan into the owner of the largest port infrastructure in the Caspian sea.
The appearance of such a powerful port complex on the Caspian coast caused resonance far beyond the Caspian region and Central Asia.
Will the Baltic States and Northern Europe take advantage of the broad opportunities that will arise if the Turkmenbashi port would connect to The North-South corridor? This question was raised in the article by Vladimir Kovalevsky, published recently in “Komsomolskaya Pravda in Northern Europe.”
As noted by the author, Turkmenbashi port claims to be a significant link in the international cargo transportation system due to substantial saving of distance and time for cargo flows running between Europe and Asia. And this logistical advantage will bring the trade and economic cooperation between Asian, Caspian and European, as well as Baltic and Scandinavian countries to a new level. For the latter, by the way, the transportation of goods to other parts of the world is complicated by long distances and climatic features.
As for Northern Europe, access to the port hub of Turkmenistan can be established by the International North-South corridor, which is one of the modern branches of the complex multimodal transport network of the new Great Silk Road.
The agreement on the North-South corridor was concluded by India, Iran and Russia in 2000. Then Kazakhstan, Belarus, Oman, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Syria and Bulgaria joined the document. Turkey, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan have expressed their desire to join the corridor.
It is assumed that along 7,000-km long corridor, cargo from the Persian Gulf region, India will enter Iranian ports on the Caspian sea, and then will be shipped by ferries with access to the railway network of Russia, or through Russian inland waterways - to the countries of Eastern, Central and Northern Europe.
The new port in Turkmenbashi will not reduce the potential of the North-South corridor and will not ignore the transit potential of this route --- this point of view was voiced in conversation between the author of the article and Victor Olersky, deputy transport minister of Russia, head of the Federal Agency of maritime and river transportation.
There are many benefits of the North-South corridor, including in comparison with the marine route through the Suez Canal. The route crossing the waters of the Caspian sea may attract shippers with lower costs and time savings for transportation of goods. In addition, the corridor has a developed transport infrastructure, both railway and marine, connected with the transport systems of the Caspian countries.
According to Olersky, the development of cargo transportation along North-South corridor will contribute to the strengthening of trade and economic relations between its participants and increase cargo flows between Europe, the Persian Gulf and South Asia. The commissioning of such a unique object as the Turkmenbashi sea port opens new prospects for Turkmenistan in terms of economic growth.
Turkmenistan considers the issue of official participation in the North-South corridor, made a statement R.Meredov, country’s foreign minister, commenting on Olersky’s speech at the international transport forum in Avaza.
There are a lot of ideas and plans to use the state-of-art Caspian harbor of Turkmenistan in the system of the new Silk Road. The project of the seaport in Turkmenbashi was implemented in a timely manner, in a strategically important place, at the crossroads of essential transport arteries, concluded Kovalevsky.
On the eve of the forum, the experts of the Caspian countries completed work on agreement for cooperation in the field of transport. It would be signed at Astana summit of Caspian leaders, to be hosted in Astana this fall. The summit is expected to finally decide the legal fate of the Caspian sea.
