Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
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3. Institute risk management87 and green channeling at border crossings for goods in
transit to the Port. There is no reason to stop trucks that are in transit. Transit fees to
be paid online and in advance.
4.8. Mashreq North-South Corridor
4.8.1. General factors
The Agreement on International Roads in the Arab Mashreq was adopted on 10 May 2001 and
entered into force on 19 October 2003. It must be noted that this international road network is
not a Transport Corridor in the political and institutional sense. A common treaty between
participating countries to develop the corridor or to integrate politically is absent. Because of
this, there is no coordinating secretariat.
The Arab countries of the Mashreq consist of 13 countries namely Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine,
Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, and Yemen. In the Mashreq
region, there are 20 road and 16 railway routes that connect the Mashreq countries and
provide links to the rest of the world. This is further evidence that a corridor cannot be looked
at in isolation to the network that supports it. However, this study will focus on route M45 that
runs north to south through Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. It is important to note that
there is a railway system that parallels the road. The railway was built by the Ottomans and is
well known as the Hedjaz Railway. When open, it connects Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Saudi
Arabia. Therefore, Turkey is included in this case study.
The European Union and MEDA88 have prepared a good report on the current status of the
railways of the Mashreq89. The main railway line is of the 1,435 mm standard gauge, except
through Jordan where it is 1,050 mm. Unfortunately, the corridor is mostly dysfunctional
because of the war in Syria, which affects road and rail.
87 Risk Management is a term used in Customs and Revenue Protection to assess the level of risk of particular transport
entities; this normally requires close cooperation between the customs organizations of each country and shared database.
88 MEDA was the acronym for a Mediterranean Special program (launched in 1996 and amended in 2000 as MEDA II) that
aimed to introduce financial and technical measures in parallel with economic and social structural reforms in the Euro-
Mediterranean partnership (A Dictionary of the European Union, 2013).
89 Status Report on the Implementation of RTAP Rail Transport Actions In the MEDA Mashreq Countries, 2010.