The 12th Transport and Communications Council, organized by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and addressing the transport and communication systems of the future, opened its doors today at the Event Center of Istanbul Atatürk Airport C Terminal. Speaking at the opening, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu said, "We have all witnessed once again very recently how necessary local and national applications are."
Pointing out that representatives from many countries in the sector have gathered in Türkiye under the Council, Karaismailoğlu stated that the heart of the transport and communications world will beat in Istanbul for three days within the framework of the 12th Transport and Communications Council.
Stating that the communications and transport sectors are among the main pillars of the economy in the global world, Karaismailoğlu drew attention to the fact that we are living in a highly advanced phase of the communications and transport age.
Minister Karaismailoğlu stated that it is no longer possible for countries to compete in the globalizing world without a healthy communications and transport infrastructure, saying, "We are living in an information age where technological progress and innovations accelerate the flow of time. Concepts such as far-near, known-unknown, familiar-stranger have become meaningless, borders have become transparent, and barriers to mutual interaction have largely been removed. Societies have begun to demand instantly not only what is offered to them, but the best in the world in every field. We have all witnessed once again very recently the discomfort caused in society even by a few hours of communication outage and how necessary local and national applications are."
Minister Karaismailoğlu: Countries Must Invest in Communications Infrastructure
Karaismailoğlu said, "As a result, transparency, freedom, justice, accountability, and good governance have become valid values not only for a privileged part of the world, but for all of it. It is clear that countries that do not understand this, reject it, or cannot adapt to the transformation will fall behind events and time. It is an indisputable fact that it is impossible to put a bridle on technology. Because what is dreamed of today is tomorrow's reality. Technological developments will make tomorrow's world much more transparent than today's and will leave nothing within narrow regions. Countries must invest in transport and communications infrastructure within integrated strategies in line with the requirements of the world and the age."
Minister Karaismailoğlu drew attention to the fact that planning Türkiye's transport and communications strategy with regional and global dimensions has a special importance due to its geopolitical and geostrategic position at the intersection of three continents.
Stating that above all, for a geographical area to be called a region on the world map, there must be communications and transport networks that enable communication and interaction between countries and peoples, Karaismailoğlu drew attention to Türkiye's advantageous position and continued his speech as follows: "Our country is at the center of 67 countries with a population of 1 billion 650 million people reachable by a 4-hour flight, a GDP of 38 trillion dollars, and a trade volume of 7 trillion 45 billion dollars. Moving from this geostrategic position, it is indispensable for Türkiye to redefine its transport and communications strategies in the light of global and regional conditions and to always keep these strategies up to date. As our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed, 'Politics means producing works for the country and serving the nation.' For 19 years, we have been working with this understanding, shaping Türkiye's future vision, whose face has been illuminated by investments made in transport and communications, by keeping the pulse of the world, closely following technological developments, and always putting integration at the center."
Minister Karaismailoğlu: 1915 Çanakkale Bridge Will Symbolize the 100th Anniversary of Our Republic
Sharing the works done in Türkiye in transport and communications since 2002 and the point reached, Karaismailoğlu said, “In the last 19 years, we have largely solved Türkiye's long-standing transport infrastructure problem. We have completed and put into service many mega transport projects. We have increased our divided road network, which was 6,100 kilometers before 2003, to 28,340 kilometers. We have brought our highway length to 3,532 kilometers. We have completed the Istanbul-Izmir Highway including the Osmangazi Bridge, the Northern Marmara Highway including the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the Ankara-Niğde Highway, the Menemen-Çandarlı Highways, and the Eurasia Tunnel. We have established uninterrupted highway connection from Edirne to Şanlıurfa.”
Emphasizing that the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge will reduce the crossing time of the Çanakkale Strait, which often takes hours due to ferry waiting times and weather conditions, to 6 minutes, Karaismailoğlu used the expression, "We will open the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge on March 18, 2022, and put it into service for the whole world."
Within the scope of the Council, Transporttech Conference, Roundtable Meeting of Transport Ministers, sector sessions, bilateral meetings, and panels will be held under the vision of "National Transport and Infrastructure Policy."
Transport ministers and deputy ministers from 55 different countries, as well as sector professionals, gathered at the Council.
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, and Board members attended the opening ceremony of the Council. At the BTK stand opened within the event; introductions were made for the National Monitoring System, Market Surveillance Laboratory, BTK Data Center, BTK Academy, Secure Internet Truck, and USOM.