Turkey is on schedule to complete the world’s longest suspension bridge by 2022. The towers of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge that will cross the Dardanelles straits in northwestern Turkey are complete. At a height of 318 meters, they surpass the 300 meters of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. the mid-span will be 2,023 meters and the bridge will have a total length of 4,608 meters. Ground was broken in 2017, and the grand opening is set to take place on March 18, 2022. The new bridge between Europe and Asia via Turkey is an important link in the Belt and Road.
Speaking of the Belt and Road Initiative, Turkey is taking a lesson from China and intends to build logistics centers in regions where it hopes to expand trade. “Logistics centers will also help us boost our capabilities in e-commerce abroad,” Turgut Erkeskin, chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board’s Logistics Business Council, told Anadolu Agency. These centers will be established in strategic regions in Africa, the Americas, Europe, Russia, and the Far East.
“We target the countries where our exports have deep growth potential,” Erkeskin said, stressing that they will first target countries in Africa and elsewhere with relatively less logistics infrastructure. “Our first focus will be countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, where there are major bottlenecks in logistics or infrastructure despite their great market potential. Since they have a habit and taste for Turkish goods, we can achieve permanent export improvement here.”
The centers will help prevent the type of bottlenecks experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
