Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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 Regulatory and other constraints to trade facilitation attain practical relevance at the corridor level,
enabling the design of appropriate interventions;
 Corridors provide a spatial framework for organizing cooperation and collaboration between
countries and public and private sector agencies involved in providing trade and transport
infrastructure and services.
Trade and regional integration, supported by the development of transport corridors, is relevant for
the OIC member countries . The recently completed COMCEC study indicates that:
 With a population of more than 1.7 billion, OIC Member States account for more than 23% of world
population. OIC countries have a relatively high and growing market potential. Much of the increase
in the market potential of OIC countries is also due to the increase in intra-OIC market potential;
 The OIC transport corridors are characterized by many non-physical barriers, such as unofficial
payments (corruption) and cumbersome border crossing. Low intra trade also characterizes the
OIC transport corridors. The average is less than 10% of the total trade, while this figure is 50-60%
in the EU where many successful transport corridors are situated.
The above shows the potential for trade and transport facilitation and corridor development in OIC
member countries, as well as (some of) the constraints.
Governance is a critical success factor for developing transport corridors and facilitating trade and
transport. The above-mentioned combination of hard and soft measures is directly linked to corridor
governance. The complexity of corridor governance, with specific functions and domains, is addressed
in the next chapter, together with the link between transport corridors and governance.
Rationale for this study
COMCEC is fully aware of the importance of corridor governance and the impact on developing
successful transport corridors. Although the importance of corridor governance is widely recognised,
limited information is available on the concept of corridor governance. Therefore, COMCEC has
decided on launching a study dedicated to this subject. The project will help OIC member countries to
enhance their performance on transport corridor governance, as defined in the objectives of this study,
which are presented below.
1.2 Objective of the project
Main objective
The main objective of this study is to establish a conceptual foundation of the governance of
multinational transport corridors in the OIC Member States.
The outcome of this study is a comprehensive but concise overview of current governance practices of
multinational transport corridors in the OIC Member Countries, highlighting crucial issues and
challenges which OIC countries are currently facing, and recommendations outlining how these issues
can be addressed by the various players.
Specific objectives
Based on the above-mentioned main objective the specific objectives of the study are as followings:
1. To identify the basic concepts of the governance of transnational transport corridors, their role in
enhancing the corridor performance, and factors affecting their success;