Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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Besides these multi-lateral agreements, Egypt has bilateral agreements with Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon,
Libya, Morocco, and West Bank and Gaza (Rouis & Tabor, 2013). According to the World Bank Report
on Regional Economic Integration in The Middle East and North Africa, “Several of these intraregional
agreements have yet to become fully operational or to fully achieve their stated objectives.” (Rouis &
Tabor, 2013).
IRAN
General Information
With signing its basic agreement in 2009, Iran joined TRACECA. The country has a high potential as a
trading/transit location due to its geopolitical place in the world. Because of the sanctions that were
imposed on the country by the US, UN and EU however, (infrastructural) reform has only recently
begun. Iran’s potential to TRACECA is its road network (more than rail). The “improvement of
transportation infrastructures and promotion of coordination in the post sanctions era is of prime
significance.” (Sazmand and Kavianfar, 2015). In 2016, Iran was listed as 96th among 160 countries in
terms of trade logistics performance.88
Corridor Objectives and Political Support
In December 2017, TRACECA’s national secretary in Iran, Mr. Khamisizadeh, “emphasized the role and
contribution of all member-states of the IGC TRACECA, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the
development of the TRACECA corridor and prosperous achievements of Iran in the post-sanction time.
[…] Development of transport infrastructure, prospects of future development and strengthening of
transport cooperation in the region as well as transport-transit potential of the Islamic Republic of Iran
were mentioned as priority objectives.” He also reported Iran’s “huge investments allocated to the
transport corridors”.89 President Hassan Rohani seeks to make Iran “an important hub for
international trade and transportation” (Haghgoo et all, 2017). In 2016, Abbas Akhundi, Iran’s Minister
of Road and Transportation presented his plans to “expand” the dry ports in the country to TRACECA’s
Secretary General. He spoke of Iran’s “logistical role in the region”, while the Secretary General
expressed the wish to increase the cooperation between COMCEC and Iran. Iran’s trade within
TRACECA has been increasing for some years, and Iran has plans for improving the railways
extensively in the coming decade.90 Since the end of the sanctions, Iran is scoring better on the World
Bank ranking of trade logistics performance. The government has focused on enhancing this sector for
the last few years, to increase trade with the region (and world). This is all “part of a long-term
economic growth plan whereby Iran can “ …regain its stature in international transportation””.91 Iran
focusses its attention mostly on improving its railway sector, with an emphasis on the “transnational”.
Already, some projects are under construction in cooperation with neighbouring countries to link the
rail networks on the borders (COMCEC, 2017).
Institutional Framework
The chairman of the TRACECA national Commission in Iran is the Minister of Roads and Urban
Development, Dr Abbas Ahmad Akhound.92
Infrastructure, Finance, Planning and Programming
The Iranian “Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization” (RMTO) is mainly responsible for
Infrastructure, Planning and Programming. They cite their main tasks as being:
 To provide required facilities and grounds to improve and optimally utilize the road transportation
system and to implement the comprehensive and coordinated policies in the area of road
transportation under the Law for Social, cultural, Economic Development of the country;
 To prepare Policies, approaches and planning in field of road maintenance and Transportation and
to coordinate executive fields among different sub-section;
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