Turkey, Egypt remove barriers on highways

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The highways agreement between Turkey and Egypt will enable bilateral transportation and transit transportation to be liberalized, said Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım yesterday as the two countries signed three agreements on railways, seaways and highways.

Yıldırım said according to the agreement on highways, the two countries will be able conduct transportation without documents or any restrictions. The document system will be valid for unladen entry and third countries’ transportation, he added. “I think that the transportation to Egypt and also to the Middle Eastern and North African countries will show a considerable rise.”

Turkey and Egypt had signed a memorandum of understanding on Nov. 17, 2012 for developing cooperation in railways, Yıldırım noted, adding that the working group, which was created after this deal, had completed its work. He said the new agreement included jointly building infrastructure and superstructure in railways, providing railway vehicles and organizing training programs.

Yıldırım said these agreements would contribute to the sea and ro-ro transportation between the two countries, which has already been underway for some time.

Egyptian Transportation Minister Hatim Abdullatif said the trade volume between the two countries had reached $5 billion, noting that the ministries had to adapt themselves to this progress.