Turkey hosts meeting with Iraq, Qatar and UAE on multibillion-dollar infrastructure hub

ISTANBUL (AP) — Transport ministers from Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are meeting in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss a multibillion-dollar regional transportation project designed to ease the movement of goods from Asia to Europe through Iraq.

The proposed $20 billion Development Road Project is designed to facilitate the transport of goods from the Gulf to Europe via the Grand Faw Port in Basra in southern Iraq. The port would be linked to Turkey and subsequently to Europe through an extensive network of railways and highways.

The initiative, which was unveiled last year, would turn Iraq into a pivotal transportation hub, enhancing the country’s economic resurgence and boosting cooperation with its neighbors.

“We will talk about the stage we are at and how we can move faster from now on,” Turkish Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu told HaberTurk television in an interview. “There are many issues on the table, from the project’s financing to its construction and management model.”

Thursday’s meeting comes during efforts by Iraq and Turkey to improve ties that have been strained by a series of issues, including the presence of Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and Turkish military actions against the militants on Iraqi territory.

In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first official visit to Baghdad in over a decade, seeking cooperation from Iraq in the battle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been engaged in an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s. The group is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Erdogan’s visit resulted in the signing of numerous agreements in the areas of energy, trade and water sharing.

Last month, the Iraqi government announced an official ban on the PKK, which has maintained bases in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Ankara has argued that PKK’s presence in Iraq threatens the planned construction the Iraq Development Road.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has said the centerpiece of the project will be the development of the Grand Faw Port and a “smart industrial city” adjacent to it.