Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that as a result of the talks with South Korea, doubling the flights between the two countries is on the agenda. It is planned to increase the number of weekly flights between Istanbul and Seoul from 11 to 21, and to add new flights to Busan. This development will provide significant momentum to trade and tourism activities between the two countries.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated that they have started working on a railway project that will be able to travel at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour between Ankara and Istanbul, and that they have discussed the issue of super-fast trains with his South Korean counterpart Park Sang-Woo, and that he has shown great interest in the project.
ANKARA (AA)– According to the statement made by the Ministry, Uraloğlu met with Korean Minister of Land, Transport and Infrastructure Park Sang-Woo during his visit to South Korea for the Global Infrastructure Cooperation Conference (GICC) 2024.
Uraloğlu pointed out the solidarity and support shown by Korea after the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş that occurred on February 6, 2023, and said, “It is very important for me to work on developing cooperation between our country and Korea, where my uncle also fought and was a veteran.”
Underlining that the heads of state of both countries had a productive meeting on the occasion of the G-20 Summit held in India, Uraloğlu said, “I would like to say that MIKTA, which consists of Turkey, Mexico, Indonesia, Korea and Australia, can do important work. We can further develop our cooperation on this occasion.”
– An investment of $250 billion was planned until 2053
Minister Uraloğlu drew attention to the fact that they implemented prestigious projects such as the 1915 Çanakkale and Yavuz Sultan Selim bridges with Korean partners, and noted the following:
“Now, we want to build the 127-kilometer highway following the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge together. Necessary negotiations are being held with the Korean DAELIM company for the Kınalı-Malkara section of the Kınalı-Tekirdağ-Çanakkale-Savaştepe Highway Project. Again, I am pleased to state that a very serious stage has been reached in terms of financing from Korea.”
Minister Uraloğlu also touched upon the investments made in Turkey’s transportation and communication infrastructure in the last 22 years and reported that they have made an infrastructure investment of 272 billion dollars.
Uraloğlu stated that 165 billion dollars of the said amount consists of highway infrastructure investments and that they will focus on railway investments from now on, and emphasized that they plan to invest around 250 billion dollars in both highways, railways and maritime transportation in a period of approximately 30 years, especially until 2053.
– Ankara-Istanbul Super High Speed Train Project on the table
Pointing out that Turkey has been one of the countries operating high-speed railways for 15 years, Uraloğlu made the following statements:
“We have high-speed train lines that operate at up to 250 kilometers per hour. Now we have started working on a railway project that will be able to travel at 350 kilometers per hour between Ankara and Istanbul. I talked about the super-fast train with my Korean counterpart. They showed great interest in our project. This made us very happy. There are currently 2,251 kilometers of high-speed train lines in our country. We plan to increase this to 5,000 kilometers in the short term.”
Uraloğlu stated that electric trains traveling at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour have been manufactured by TÜRASAŞ, which is under the Ministry, and that their use is being evaluated, and that they are planning to produce a train traveling at a speed of 225 kilometers per hour.
Uraloğlu, who drew attention to the fact that maritime cooperation between Turkey and South Korea was also discussed, reported that negotiations on a draft maritime transportation agreement between the two countries were continuing and that he thought progress could be made in this regard.
– “We are in mutual discussions regarding 7 new flights to Busan”
Uraloğlu, noting that the flight between South Korea and Türkiye takes 10-11 hours, made the following assessment:
“Currently, there are 11 weekly reciprocal flights between the two countries. Turkish Airlines carries out this, while Korean Airlines carries out 8 frequencies. We are in mutual discussions on increasing the 11 flights to Seoul to 21, and providing 7 new flights to Busan. We have a significant trade volume with Korea. This is also important for us. We have had many collaborations in Turkey. Of course, we need to develop these.”
– A step towards cooperation in the reconstruction of Ukraine
Underlining that cooperation in third countries could also be developed, Uraloğlu stated that Turkey has the ability to do quality and fast work all over the world, especially in the contracting sector.
Uraloğlu, pointing out Ukraine’s close location to Turkey, noted:
“There is still an ongoing war there. We really want it to end immediately. Even during the war, our companies are still doing business there. Our companies started working intensively upon the request of the Ukrainian government. I think we can cooperate with Korea at this point. Cooperation can also be possible on the second nuclear power plant planned to be built in Turkey.”
Minister Uraloğlu thanked his South Korean counterpart for hosting and invited Park Sang-Woo to the International Road Federation Congress to be held on October 15-18.
As part of the visit, Uraloğlu first visited the Turkish Embassy in Seoul and met with Ambassador Salih Murat Tamer.
