Joe Biden, Recep Tayyip Erdogan push for rival corridors to connect Asia with Europe

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, September 20

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushed for their respective transport-cum-energy corridors in their speeches at the UN General Assembly.

Biden lauded the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and said the project would spur opportunities for investment across two continents as well as build a more sustainable integrated West Asia.

At the G20 summit, Erdogan had rejected the corridor announcement, stating it was not feasible without Turkiye’s participation. At the bottom was his desire to eliminate Israel from the mix and instead get the corridor to use Turkish ports.

Erdogan also said the Turkiye-led “Development Road Project” will further strengthen regional integration. In a speech, where attention was focused on his observations on Kashmir, Palestine and Xinjiang, the Turkish President touched on his vision of a transport corridor from Asia to Europe. “We are striving to extend the spirit of cooperation in the field of energy, ranging from the eastern Mediterranean to the Caspian Basin, from the Black Sea to the Balkans. Also, in the field of transport, Turkiye is at a geopolitical position, which allows it to support all projects that will pass through or around it,” he said in the speech at the UNGA. Though both corridors will use the ports in the UAE, Iraq’s Development Road Initiative takes a very different land route to a port in the Mediterranean. India intends to use the Haifa port in Israel and the Adani Group made the move to acquire it months before the corridor was announced on the margins of the G20 summit held here.

Turkiye-Iraq project

Ship-to-rail transit network

• The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor will consist of two separate corridors — the east corridor connecting India to West Asia and the northern corridor connecting West Asia to Europe
• It will include a rail line, which upon completion will provide cost-effective cross-border ship-to-rail transit network to supplement the existing multi-modal transport routes, enhancing transhipment of goods and services between South East Asia through India to West Asia and Europe

Turkish Prez raises Kashmir issue