Binali Yıldırım, chair of the Organization of Turkic States’ Council of Elders, took part in a panel titled “From the Middle Corridor to a Joint Production Ecosystem: An Economic Model in the Turkic World” at the Turkic World Dialogue Forum.
Yıldırım said the 13th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States, held in Ankara, discussed the present and future of the Turkic world and presented an important declaration.
He pointed to continuing global uncertainty, limited economic growth and 800 million people living below the absolute poverty line. Turkic states, he said, are working to address global imbalances and inequalities.
Yıldırım said the Middle Corridor should not be viewed solely as a transport route. Compared with the northern and southern corridors, he said, it has the highest added value; transport, he added, is a means of expanding trade.
The volume of freight carried along the Middle Corridor could be raised to 30 million tonnes, Yıldırım said. He called for shorter transit times and work to improve transfers between different modes of transport.
He said the Organization of Turkic States should identify member countries’ strengths and weaknesses in this area so they can make use of their advantages. Yıldırım called for joint production facilities and logistics centres to be established along the entire corridor.
Concluding his remarks, Yıldırım called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus an integral member of the Turkic world and opposed its isolation.
