Binali YILDIRIM
Minister of Transport of Turkey

Public ministerial session

Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished Bureaucrats,
Esteemed Congress Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you all know, on the occasion of the 31st IRU World Congress yesterday and today under the patronage of the Turkish Ministry of Transport, with the participation of … countries, we convened a Ministerial Congress on “the Revival of the Silk Road”. The Conference took place within two closed sessions. On the first day we discussed the importance and the necessity of the revival of the Historical Silk Road, barriers related to trade and transport along this corridor and measures to be taken, as well as the involvement of the private sector in transport infrastructure projects and transport services. In the last session we held today in the morning, Ministers agreed on a Joint Declaration on the revival of the Silk Road.

I am very pleased to share the results of the Ministerial Conference and the content of the Joint Declaration approved following the Conference with distinguished participants of your countries.

Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished Participants,

As you all know, Silk Road has nostalgic connotations and was a continentally important trade route which functioned between East and West to spread and exchange cultures and civilisation for centuries.

Today, the importance that the Asian economies have gained within the global trade, the significant increase in trade volume between East and West, and the insufficiency of existing transport modes and structures to respond to this increase in trade, force us to seek new approaches. Hence, the Revival of the Silk Road is a concept and perspective which has been included in the contemporary infrastructure projections to respond to this search.  

Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished Participants,

During the Conference it was once more confirmed that the existing transport routes and modes between East and West are insufficient to catch up with the constant rise in trade volume. In this respect, the importance of alternative modes of transport, especially land transport means, beside maritime transport, to address the trade and transport demand which will continue to increase as a result of global economies, has been highlighted and the importance of an efficient and interrupted land transport corridors in this context was emphasised. Within this framework, the concept of the Revival of the Silk Road was adopted.

On the other hand, at the Conference, barriers to of the development of trade and transport have been discussed and several measures to eliminate these problems have been considered. Moreover, the benefits of public-private cooperation, both in infrastructure and superstructure projects, have been reiterated and a presentation was given on some concrete case studies which have been carried out through public-private partnership.

Moreover, in order to provide a rapid, safe and uninterrupted flow of transport as well as to facilitate intercontinental trade; the following joint actions have been adopted.

• improvement of bilateral, regional and international cooperation,
• coordination of national and regional transport policies,
• establishment and implementation of projects of common interest for the development of transport corridors,
• encouragement and mobilisation of public-private partnership to improve transport links and border gates,
• signing of  bilateral and multilateral agreements to facilitate international transport,
• development and implementation of sustainable logistic and technical innovations in the road transport sector,
• removal of all the barriers before trade and transport; and in this context; it has been agreed to enhance joint efforts for;
  • Becoming parties to international conventions and agreements,
  • Complying with the rules of the World Trade Organisation fully and especially, to make freedom of transit rule functional in this respect,
  • Simplification of documentation, rationalisation of taxes and fees,
  • Removal of quotas,
  • Facilitation of visa procedures for Professional Drivers.

The basic outcome of the Conference is the necessity of transforming the Historical Silk Road into a modern Silk Road Project responding to the needs of our era. The modern Silk Road should be based on establishing an intermodal trade corridor composed of road, rail, and maritime modes as well as considering logistic aspects.

Thank you.

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