Iraq is angling to begin moving trade overland to Turkey via Syria. This is an important development and could upend trade routes in the region.
As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and Iraq is unable to export oil, it is clearly in the interest of Iraq and many countries to see whether trade can flow via Syria. With the investment now more available and the issue becoming acute, there is a big push to change things.
Trade has a kind of inertia. So long as trade could go out through the Persian Gulf, there was no need to invest in infrastructure via Syria. A decade-long Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS had also made it impossible to trade via Syria.
Now everything is different. There is a new Syrian government. With sanctions being lifted on Damascus, many see Syria as a regional hub. Turkey wants to help Syria move in this direction.
Iraq has some reticence, in part because Iranian-backed militias in Iraq oppose the new government in Damascus. However, trade is more important than sectarian ideology.
Rudaw, a Kurdish channel in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, said last week that “spanning 1,200 kilometers, the $17 billion project will extend from Faw Port in Iraq’s southern Basra province on the Gulf to the country’s northern border with Turkey.
“The project includes railways and highways designed to transport goods and passengers, with the aim of positioning Iraq as a regional trade hub. It is expected to generate annual revenues of $4b.”
Turkey less wary of trade through eastern Syria
The report added that “in a notable development, the first Iraq-Turkey transit convoy arrived in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province via Syria on Monday, a move that some analysts say could potentially weaken the Kurdistan Region’s trade with Turkey as it marks a notable shift in trade routes between Ankara and Baghdad.”
The first convoy has now made the transit via Iraq’s Rabi crossing. The trucks went into Nineveh plains north of Mosul. They had arrived from Turkey via Syria, where they crossed at Tal Abyad into Syria. Tel Abyad is an area that Turkey had occupied in Syria. A notable change in Syria has made this possible. The Syrian Democratic Forces are integrating with Damascus, and this means Turkey is less wary of trade via eastern Syria.
Omar al-Waili, head of Iraq’s Border Crossings Authority, said, according to Rudaw, that “the route would eventually become an important part of the Development Road Project, turning Iraq into a global logistics hub.”
Sirwa Mohammed, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s economy and trade committee, told Rudaw that “Omar al-Waili informed me that Turkey itself requested the reopening of the Rabia crossing so that the largest share of trade movement would pass through this route.”