Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu and Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Aleksiev attended bilateral and inter-delegation meetings at the Kapıkule Border Gate.
Karaismailoğlu: “One of our biggest agendas is to shift the load to railways in international transportation.” The meetings between the delegations were attended by Turkey's Ambassador to Sofia Aylin Eightkök, Edirne Governor H. Kürşat Kırbıyık, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Enver İskurt, Deputy Minister of Trade Rıza Tuna Turagay, Bulgaria's Ambassador to Ankara Anguel Tcholakov, Bulgaria's Edirne Consul General Borislav Dimitrov, Transport and Deputy Ministers of Communications Diliana Doichinova and Krasimir Papukchiyki, Bulgarian Deputy Finance Minister Aleksander Svrakov and other interested parties.
After the talks, Karaismailoğlu and Aleksiev held a press conference.
Minister Karaismailoğlu said, “In international transportation, shifting the load to railways is one of our biggest agendas. As both the Turkish and Bulgarian sides, we are holding important talks to rapidly increase the capacity on the railway.” said.
Karaismaioğlu stated that they held an important and productive meeting, the subject of which was border crossings, and pointed out that exports increased very rapidly after the Kovid-19 outbreak. He said that in this sense, a great burden was placed on the customs gates.
Underlining that the Bulgarian side has made very important contributions to lightening the load, speeding up the transitions, and eliminating the problems experienced at the Kapıkule Border Gate, which stretches from the Far East to Europe, Karaismailoğlu said: Of course, due to the increase in exports, there will be more loads in the coming days. We are also having important talks to increase the road capacity at the gates and speed up the transitions.” said.
Karaismailoğlu underlined that railway transportation is at an important point in international transportation due to the limited capacity in land transportation.
“We Will Increase Crossings on Railways Much More”
Emphasizing the necessity of increasing the capacity of railway transportation, Karaismailoğlu continued as follows: “Shipping the freight to the railways is one of our biggest agendas. As both the Turkish and Bulgarian sides, we are holding important talks to rapidly increase the capacity on the railway. Hopefully, in the coming days, we will increase the transitions on the railways much, much more. In addition, we need to support the sea route and Ro-Ro transports. That's why we, as the Ministry, carry out important policies to improve Turkish Ro-Ro flights with Burgas, Varna and Romania connections. We had issued the necessary regulations to encourage Ro-Ro transports. Hopefully, both our trade will increase and our problems at the gates will decrease.
Emphasizing that Bulgaria is Turkey's gateway to Europe and that our long-standing friendly relations are also reflected in our trade, Karaismailoğlu said: “We need to be in constant consultation to further develop this commercial friendship. However, as Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, we have important studies on how we can improve railway transportation. We will hold our quartet meetings again in the coming days. Today's meeting was very productive in terms of finding solutions to Turkey's increasing trade volume and improving relations with friendly brotherly countries.” said.
“We Have Decided to Use the Rail and Sea Routes Seriously”
Bulgarian Transport and Communications Minister Hristo Aleksiev said that they talked about the work to be done and the measures to be taken in order to make the transitions faster at the customs.
Expressing that the logistics were provided to Europe via Bulgaria due to the Russia-Ukraine war, Aleksiev stated that for this reason, vehicle density occurs from time to time.
Explaining that highways alone will not be enough for such a heavy traffic flow, Aleksiev emphasized that railways and sea routes should also be included in this traffic.
Noting that more than 100 thousand trucks passed customs from last October to October this year, Aleksiev said: “Naturally, such a large influx of vehicles was processed by the employees of both countries. We all know that this flow from Asia to Europe will increase even more. That's why we decided to use the rail and sea routes seriously. Transporters in Bulgaria approve the passage of their trucks on state railways. In this way, cargoes should be shifted to the railway by Turkey.” said.
Aleksiev emphasized that the existing railways are full and that an alternative railway customs should be opened as an alternative.
Expressing that they also took some decisions to accelerate the transitions through customs, Aleksiev thanked Minister Karaismailoğlu.
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