Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
85
Table 16: Social factors in TRACECA member states
Source: World Bank
There is a lot of attention to the revival of the Silk Route from both European and Chinese
scholars33 and there are also scientific work published by institutions in between (see, e.g.,
Özdemir (2010), Özceylan et al. (2016), Nuriyev (2008), Dekanozishvili (2004a), Contessi
(2016) and Acar and Gürol (2016)). More research capacity is likely to be needed for the long-
term supply of human capital.
Throughout history, transport and infrastructure projects have contributed with technology
transfer and developing human resources. Since the majority of the TRACECA TAPs were
performed by European consultancies, however, it can be expected that the result in regional
capacity building was not fully satisfactory. The phenomenon of highly specialised engineers
and workers flown in for infrastructure projects and leaving little competence behind upon
project completion is increasingly highlighted (see, for instance, World Bank (2017a)).
Rafizadeh (2017), TRACECA Public Relation Expert, has worked for TRACECA for seven years
and sees a big difference in the TRACECA activities now since the EU funding has dried out.
Before there was more focus on helping consultants to do TAPs, and learning a lot in the
process, while there is now more focus on realising the plans drawn up by the TAPs. The view
is shared by Ismayil (2017), who states that the secretariat staff worked very closely with the
visiting consultants. They explained the realities to the consultants and they seemingly
reached good results. For the current phase of TRACECA resting on the member countries’
own resources, however, relies on a strong higher education sector in the region.
Rafizadeh (2017) holds Kazakhstan first and then Turkey when it comes to higher education in
freight transport and logistics. The maritime and rail sectors have their academies, as is
customary due to the importance of certificates to operate ships and locomotives, but in the
road and logistics sector it is more customary to work your way up and learn in the profession.
3 an
Country
Population
(Million)
Unemployment
(%)
Poverty
Index (%)
AZER 9.7 5.1 6
ARME 3 16.8 30
BULG 7.2 8 22
GEOR 3.7 11.6 14.8
IRAN 79.1 11.3
KAZA 17.5 5.2 2.7
KYRG 6 7.7 32.1
MOLD 3.6 5 11.4
ROMA 19.8 6.4 25.4
TAJ 8.5 10.8 31.3
TURKEY 78.7 10.3 1.6
TURKM N/A 8.6 N/A
UKRA 45.2 8.9 6.4
UZBE 31.3 8.9 14.1