SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani is set to conduct a visit to Turkey “in the coming days,” where he is expected to discuss the multi-billion dollar Development Road project with the Turkish side, the country’s embassy in Ankara announced Wednesday.

“We anticipate an important visit by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to Turkey in the coming days,” Iraq’s Ambassador to Turkey Majid al-Lajmawi told state media, noting that the visit “will contribute to advancing economic and investment cooperation to new levels.”

Lajmawi added that strategic projects, most notably the Development Road project, will comprise the focus of the Iraqi premier's discussions during his visit to Ankara.

The Development Road is a massive multi-billion dollar railways, roads, ports, and cities project which aims to shorten travel time between Asia and Europe and links the Grand Faw Port in southern Iraq to the Turkish border. The project is set to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and enhance Iraq’s geopolitical status.

The project “enhances economic interdependence and establishes a strong partnership between Iraq and Turkey, in addition to energy, transportation, and trade exchange issues,” Lajmawi noted.

The Iraqi Supreme Committee for the Development Road project in late March approved the establishment of a “special company” to oversee the implementation of the multi-billion dollar project.

Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu on Wednesday stressed the importance of the Development Road in light of recent regional escalations, namely the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, posing difficulty to shipments which have to take longer routes.

The Turkish minister told reporters in Berlin that shipments coming through the Suez Canal and the Persian Gulf have decreased to “around 30 percent,” noting that “what used to come from the Suez Canal in 35 days, now comes in 45 days [through the Cape of Good Hope].”

Considering the challenges, Uraloglu stressed the importance of “alternatives in the future.”

The architectural plan for the Development Road is structured in three phases, with phase one projected to be completed by 2028, while the second and third phases are expected to finish in 2033 and 2050 respectively.

The initial investment for the project is estimated at nearly $20 billion, with projected annual profits reaching approximately five billion dollars.