ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi parliament speaker Haibat al-Halbousi and his Turkish counterpart Numan Kurtulmus on Tuesday reaffirmed their “full support” for all necessary steps to accelerate work on the landmark Development Road project during a joint presser.

Halbousi, along with a parliamentary delegation, departed for Turkey on Monday for an official visit, where he met with Kurtulmus and several other senior Turkish officials in Ankara the following day.

The pair discussed “a number of issues of common interest,” including initiatives to strengthen parliamentary cooperation, the landmark Development Road project, and projects related to oil, water, energy, security and counterterrorism, according to a statement from Halbousi’s office.

“The Development Road Project is a very important project that will ensure connectivity in the most perfect way and will contribute to the development of both Iraq and the region, as well as Turkey,” Kurtulmus said during a joint presser, as cited by Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency. 

Baghdad and Ankara reaffirmed their “full support” for all necessary steps to advance the landmark project, Kurtulmus said, adding that “we shared our ideas on what needs to be done to accelerate this process.”

The Development Road is a massive, multi-billion-dollar project that entails the expansion of railways, roads, and ports, shortening travel time between Asia and Europe and linking the Grand Faw Port in southern Iraq to the Turkish border.

“I hope the Development Road Project will become an active, visible and fully implemented project with all its components as soon as possible,” the Turkish parliament speaker added.

For his part, Halbousi stressed the strategic importance of the Development Road project for Iraq, while also highlighting other significant projects between the two countries, including the Fishkhabur-Ovakoy border crossing.

On Wednesday, Iraq’s Border Ports Authority announced steps to activate an Iraqi-Turkish agreement on the Development Road project, including plans to establish the Fishkhabur-Ovakoy border crossing and connect it to the project.

The move came after an Iraq-Turkey bilateral meeting in Ankara focused on “moving to the implementation phase” of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed July 28 between the two countries.

The route will pass through Diwaniyah, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad, and Mosul before entering Turkey’s Sirnak province and reaching Mersin on the Mediterranean Sea.
 
The project has generated around 100,000 jobs directly, according to the statement, with over 1.6 million other jobs having been created indirectly as a result of the expansive initiative.