Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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such arrangements on a sustainable basis is a challenging process. In the institutional structure,
there is ample opportunity for broad stakeholder involvement, including the relevant ministries
and departments/commissions, local authorities and private sector. The use of the corridors in
relation to all these stakeholders is actively promoted. It should be noted that on a regular basis
(2015, 2017) regional conferences are organised to which countries from the region are invited,
facilitating regional collaboration where possible. Dedicated studies and capacity building activities
have been organised to improve TTF capacity in Jordan;
 The UNESCAP Central Corridor, jointly developed with two other Eurasian Corridors, is a
continuation of the implementation of various transport initiatives by UNESCAP. By establishing a
governance platform on the corridor level, strategic transport planning in the Asian Pacific is
elevated to the next level of integration. While there is huge potential for the Central Corridor, it is
unclear whether this potential can be translated into concrete action and policy reform. Currently
the Central Corridor is still in the knowledge exchange phase and a long road is still ahead. The
corridor objectives are based on extensive research and well grounded, but aligning views and
actions of nations is another challenge, especially since the corridor is so large. Significant effort is
required by international institutions, with UNESCAP in the lead, to push the developments for the
Central Corridor.
 ASEAN has a very strong legal framework and the ASEAN Charter, which entered into force in 2008
and was renewed in 2016, provides binding rules and regulations for the ASEAN Member States.
This process was reinforced by the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in
2015, which was an important step towards further regional economic integration. The major
problem of ASEAN however is the reality that few ASEAN Member States have transposed the
ASEAN Charter, the constitution of the ASEAN Economic Community, the ASEAN Strategic Plans,
and the ASEAN Master Plans into national legislation. National legislation in the Member States of
ASEAN is often still in contradiction with ASEAN rules and regulations; and if national legislation is
harmonized, enforcement of this legislation is often lacking as well. The positive aspect is that in
ASEAN the legal and regulatory framework is conducive for regional integration, improvement of
connectivity and international governance and management of economic and transport corridors,
with an emphasis on improving maritime connectivity. The latter is an important pillar in the
ASEAN community as it addresses not only regional economic development issues, but also
international, regional and national safety and security on the oceans, seas and rivers in the ASEAN
community;
 Despite a withdrawal of funding by the EU, the TRACECA programme can still build on a strong basis
in Central Eurasia for joint development of the transport sector. The gains are well laid out in the
most recently developed multi-annual LOGMOS Action Plan (2014), which was adopted as the
strategic document for TRACECA for the period of 2016-2026. Recommendations are specifically
made for improving the corridor governance infrastructure, which is conceived to be vital for
further corridor development. Measures relate to each of the seven governance domains and
include more private sector involvement, corridor branding and other promotional activities,
training of TRACECA officials and more. Expending the institutional infrastructure in terms of
resources and more political power is the cornerstone for further corridor development. One way
to move forward is to expand the legal foundation of TRACECA as to commit member states to carry
through reforms. As the TRACECA countries are highly different in terms of culture, history and
political culture, a strategy could be to favour regional or bilateral treaties over corridor wide
agreements. Such regional agreements includes member states that are located in geographical