Nihat Zeybekci (File Photo / Anadolu)
ANKARA: Turkey plans to use a land route through Iran to export goods to the Gulf state of Qatar, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Wednesday.
Zeybekci, who held talks in Tehran on Saturday about opening up a link through Iran, told businessmen and industrialists that technical delegations would meet this week to discuss the plans.
Turkey has been a strong supporter of Qatar in its dispute with its Gulf Arab neighbours, who cut trade and transport links with Doha in June. Turkey has sent cargo planes and ships to Qatar and said it is seeking to increase trade to meet Qatar's needs.
Zeybekci added that trade between Qatar and Turkey could be facilitated by using Iran as a route.
"We use air and sea routes for shipments to Qatar. The only alternative on the land route is passing Turkish trucks through two ports of Iran and crossing [the sea] by Ro-Ro ships," he said.
He said that the sea route takes 11 days, while the land route takes 14 days. “But in a recent experiment we reduced this duration to nine days, and aim to decrease it to five or six days.”
He said during talks with Iran a verbal agreement had been reached to avoid red tape and not wait for transit passes into Qatar. “In a few days a formal agreement will be signed.”
(Reuters / Anadolu)
