UAE and Turkiye in talks to build railway across Bosphorus Strait
The two nations are eyeing a potential Silk Road-esque revival linking Istanbul’s European and Asian sides
The UAE wealth fund ADQ and Turkiye are in talks to build a railway across the Yavuz Sultan Selim suspension bridge as part of the establishment of a trade route linking Europe to Asia, Bloomberg reported on 5 October.
This would be one in a series of potential deals between Abu Dhabi and Ankara as the two nations foster closer economic ties.
The UAE has increased Its support for Turkiye over the past few months after setting aside hostilities between Turkiye and Arab States.
In July, the monarchy pledged $51 billion to help support Turkiye's shaken economy. Since 2018, Turkiye has been dealing with an economic crisis, hitting a 24-year high last October of 85.5 percent on a year-to-year basis.
Abu Dhabi and Ankara have grown closer over the past few months, signing a trade agreement in March that would potentially double bilateral trade volumes by $40-45 billion in five years. Areas of investment include energy, logistics, tourism, and agricultural sectors.
Geographically, the railway would sit over the Bosporus Strait at the mouth of the Black Sea, becoming the key entry and exit point.
Ankara has given importance to increasing its trade route infrastructure, hoping to potentially become a critical trade corridor, with the aspiration to be a ground link between Beijing and London.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been keen on having the Gulf States invest in multiple trade routes in the region. In May, he sought to gain investment for a $17 billion trade route from the Iraqi port of Basra. This would compete with the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) being built by the US and India with the support of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Israel. The IMEC comes as a response to China’s increasing influence in the region, namely its Belt and Road Initiative.
The new railway project by Turkiye and the UAE would be yet another addition to the many modern trade routes on the grounds of the ancient Silk Road.