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Opening Ceremony of the ATLAS Project Was Held in Ankara

In the opening ceremony, before our Minister H.E. KARAİSMAİLOĞLU, our Director General Mr. Burak AYKAN, Mr. Bülent ÖZCAN, Director General for Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Nikolaus MEYER-LANDRUT, Head of EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador,  gave speeches and expressed their expectations from the "Analysis of  the Transport Legislation of Türkiye in the Process of Harmonization with the EU Acquis" Project implemented under USOP In addition, Mr. Henrik HOLOLEI, Director General for Transport and Mobility of the European Commission, sent a video message, expressing the EU's support for the project.

In his speech, Mr. AYKAN stated that as the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, they have carried out many successful projects within the scope of EU-Turkey Financial Cooperation, and expressed that the Halkalı-Kapıkule Railway Line project, which is under construction, is one of the most important examples of this cooperation. Mr. AYKAN also emphasized that the ATLAS project is the first study which is assessing the transport legislation with a holistic approach, differently from the EU projects carried out by the Ministry in the previous period. Stating that the project will guide the harmonization studies to be carried out by the Ministry in the future, Mr. AYKAN stated that thanks to the "Electronic Legislation Inventory Tool (ELIT)", which is one of the important outputs of the project, monitoring the harmonisation studies will be easier and the EU legal approximation process can be monitored from a single point in an up-to-date manner.

In his speech, Mr. Bülent ÖZCAN touched upon the Chapter on Transport Policy and EU-Türkiye relations within the scope of sectoral and financial cooperation. Explaining the work, they have done with public institutions regarding the third period of IPA, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, ÖZCAN emphasized the values ​​created by the funds Turkey has used since 2002 and stated that the ATLAS Project will fill an important deficiency in the field of transport.

Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, H.E. Ambassador Nikolaus MEYER-LANDRUT, in his speech addressed to the audience; He stated that he believes that Turkey belongs to the European family because of its history, its geography, its fundamental democratic choice, its economic integration. H.E. LANDRUT also stated that they have intensified our cooperation over the last year in many areas of vital importance, health, climate change, migration, security, trade, agriculture. In this regard, ATLAS Project will be another solid step towards the targets of increased cooperation between EU and Türkiye.

Expressing that the ATLAS Project will be a milestone in setting the tone of the EU – Turkey transport relations for the foreseeable future to come. The project will be putting significant efforts to align EU and Turkey in the transport sector on the background of economic realities.

Our Minister H.E. Adil KARAİSMAİLOĞLU started his speech by emphasizing that the problems faced in the supply chain due to the COVID pandemic, increased the importance of transport services in the world; he continued by emphasizing the importance of the enormous infrastructure investments that Turkey has made in recent years. H.E KARAİSMAİLOĞLU stated that a development-oriented sustainable vision that will integrate Türkiye with the world was created with the “2053 Transport and Logistics Master Plan”, which was published in April 2022, also he emphasized that Türkiye’s transport plans for the next 30 years shared the common senses with the main EU policies such as the Climate Law, European Green Deal and Paris Agreement.

Stating that Turkey's main expectation from the EU is to open the chapters to negotiations as soon as possible, H.E. KARAİSMAİLOĞLU expressed that despite many obstacles, EU-Turkey transport relations should be maintained decisively, especially on technical issues. He also stressed that the revival of the Turkey-EU High-Level Transport Dialogue is important for both sides. H.E. KARAİSMAİLOĞLU concluded his speech by expressing his support for the ATLAS Project.

Following the speech of the Minister, the opening ceremony continued with a family photo shoot and ended with the speech of Mr. Jakob ZEIDLER, the project consortium leader, DAI Vice President and Head of EU Affairs, and the presentation of the project team leader, Ms.Tetiana KARATNYUK relating to the project activities.

 


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