Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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Table 4.1 Objectives of transport corridors
Objective Fully
address
Partially
address
Not relevant
Facilitate trade, the growth of economic activities and
the competitiveness of the country or region
75 25 0
Lower transportation costs 62 38 0
Shorten transport and transit times 75 25 0
Increase reliability of transport services 62 38 0
Increase safety and security of transport 50 50 0
Contribute to achieving political goals, such as job
creation and/or regional development
50 50 0
Contribute to achieving political goals, such as creating
a channel for political dialogue between nations
50 50 0
Facilitate access to social services, such as welfare or
healthcare by increasing the mobility of people
50 50 0
Contribute to food security 62 25 12
Source: Survey carried out by the consortium.
Transport corridors and trade and transport facilitation
The transport corridors are often seen as an integral part of broader objectives of trade and transport
facilitation and (economic) regional integration. This is confirmed by the following examples:
 Iran seeks to make be “an important hub for international trade and transportation”. This should
also be seen in the light of the fact that Iran’s trade within the region has been increasing for some
years. In order to further stimulate this, Iran has plans for improving the railways extensively in
the coming decade;
 In Indonesia, there has been a visible move towards strengthening regional ties and continuing
cooperation in the region;
 The Nigerian Government considers trade facilitation to be an important element of economic
policy. In 2010 a Task Force on Trade Facilitation was formed by the government. In 2014, the task
force was renamed ‘the National Committee on Trade Facilitation.’ This committee was
“reconstituted and re-inaugurated” by the government in 2016;
 Egypt regards transport and logistics as a major contributor to the country’s economy. Egypt’s
priorities are regional and global integration through trade facilitation, with the Middle East and
North Africa as the main areas of focus.
The connection to trade and transport facilitation is confirmed by the results of the survey:
 The vast majority of respondents (75%) also indicated the corridors to be linked to a national trade
and transport facilitation policy.
4.2 Legal framework
Counties reviewed are often party to an international transport corridor. For example, Uganda is part
of the Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (having signed the Northern
Corridor Transit Agreement) and The Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency. Another
example is Iran that in 2009 became a member of TRACECA, signing the ‘Basic Multilateral Agreement
on International Transport for Development of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia Corridor’.
This is also shown in the response to the survey: