Iraq Needs Mental Investment Before Physical Investment

It is understood that the “Iraq Development Road Project” will create an infrastructure for the transportation of cargoes to be unloaded from the Far East to the Iraqi Port of Faw and from there to Türkiye and from there to Europe via the railroad and highway to be built up to the Turkish border. However, it seems inevitable that Iraq, which is striving to integrate with the world, should make mental investments before physical investments.

First, the sinking of a ship in the sand in the Suez Canal, which halted canal crossings for a while, and then the closure of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea due to the Israeli-Palestinian war and Houthi attacks triggered the search for new routes. The so-called “New Spice Route,” a railroad from India by sea to Israel via the United Arab Emirates and then back to Europe by sea, seems to have been shelved for the time being due to the widespread insecurity in Israel and neighboring countries.

There is another initiative that claims to be an alternative to this. Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, said in a written statement on April 22 that following the meetings held in Iraq, talks were held in Iraq on the Development Road Project. Minister Uraloğlu noted that a "Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Cooperation on the Development Road Project" was signed between Türkiye, Iraq, Qatar, and the UAE. Noting that the Great Port of Faw in Iraq is designed as an essential transit center with the project, Uraloğlu underlined that Türkiye's economic and geopolitical status will be further strengthened with the project, which will significantly shorten the travel time between Asia and Europe through Türkiye. "Stating that the use of the development route by a ship departing from the Port of Faw and going to Europe will provide a 15-day gain compared to the Suez Canal, Uraloğlu said that this project will open a new door regarding regional trade.

It is understood that the "Iraq Development Road Project" will create an infrastructure for the transportation of cargo unloaded from the Far East to the Iraqi Port of Faw. From there, they will be transported to Türkiye and then to Europe via the railroad and highway to be built from there to the Turkish border.

One cannot help but ask, "Why hasn't this route been considered until now?" The problem needs to be solved by building a railroad or highway.

For example, there is no railway transportation from Iraq to Türkiye and Europe. However, this line was already planned during the Ottoman Empire, and the Berlin-Baghdad Railway Line was built with the Germans' initiative. Although there is a physical infrastructure, there has not been a line from Iraq to the West for 40 years. Iraq's only export product is oil, which it transports to ports via pipelines." this is not a valid reason. This country has been importing thousands of consumer goods for perhaps 50 years. In 1981, when I saw a truckload of eggs being exported from the Netherlands to Iraq, I was astonished: "What is the unit selling price of this product that it is being ordered from so far away?"

Especially after the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the region experienced an unstable administration and severe regional security problems.

One of the agreements signed under the umbrella of the United Nations to revive the world economy after the Second World War was the TIR Convention. Thanks to the "1975 TIR Convention", which was signed at the end of the 1960s and reached its current structure in 1975 with the guidance of the first implementation examples, a loaded TIR truck can carry out transit transportation by passing through 8-10 countries with two physical inspections and a security seal under the auspices of a TIR Carnet, which also functions as a letter of guarantee. Türkiye's export transportation to Europe has also increased this way; approximately 40% of our export cargoes have been delivered to their recipients.

Although this is the case, Iraq has not been able to integrate with the world -mainly due to its noble attitude during the Saddam era- and signed the TIR Convention, which has been effectively implemented since 1975, on March 27, 2023, effective as of September 27, 2023. Unfortunately, transportation to this country is still impossible under the auspices of the TIR carnet.

For years, TIR trucks carrying cargo to Iraq have been unloading their cargo at the temporary storage area of the Zakho Border Gate opposite the Habur Border Gate, while imported goods loaded on trucks with Iraqi license plates are shipped to destinations in the country's interior. In other words, despite being the 78th country to become a party to the convention, Iraq has yet to become a country where transportation can be carried out under the auspices of the TIR carnet.

These limitations have practical implications. For instance, a driver with a German license plate unloading cargo at Gaziantep Customs Director" cannot simply decide to continue to Iraq's Faw Port, load a container from China, and unload it at Hamburg Port. "He lacks an operator capable of international road transportation between Faw and Gaziantep despite the route being working, which underscores the need for improved regulations.

The factors that prevent the operation of this route, whether by rail or road, can be listed as follows:

1- The central government in the country does not control the entire territory. The authority changes every 150 kilometers and that part of the country is under the control of another ethnic group.

2- After the fall of the Saddam regime, a bureaucratic structure and accordingly a state hierarchy in terms of areas of authority and responsibility has not been fully established.

3- A truck transportation fleet with Euro-4 or Euro-5 emission standards has not yet been established in the country, and since transporting cargo to Europe with the existing fleet would involve serious risks, the country's transporters do not want to see vehicles with other country license plates on their territory.

To put it briefly, it seems inevitable to make mental investments before physical investments in Iraq, which strives to integrate with the world.