Ahmad 
Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq have agreed to launch the first phase of the Arab trade route in Asia and Africa, connecting them to Europe through the Egyptian port of Nuweiba and the Jordanian port of Aqaba, this comes considering the challenges facing global maritime transport.
In this context, the Egyptian Ministry of Transport issued a statement regarding the ongoing measures to activate the multi-modal Arab trade route. The statement clarified that, “In light of the directives of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to transform Egypt into a center for global trade and logistics, the Ministry of Transport is implementing a comprehensive plan to develop and enhance international transport axes. As part of the ongoing implementation of the Taba – El-Arish logistics corridor, which is one of 7 integrated international development corridors, it includes a railway corridor connecting the ports of Nuweiba and Taba, planned on the Gulf of Aqaba, with the ports of El-Arish and East Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea. It is then linked to all ports on the Mediterranean Sea (Damietta, Abu Qir, Alexandria, and Dekheila), extending to European and American ports.”
The Egyptian Ministry of Transport, in coordination with the Jordanian and Iraqi Ministries of Transport through the strategic partnership with the Arab Bridge Maritime Company, has developed an executive plan for transporting goods and passengers by sea and trucks through the Arab trade route. This involves connecting the ports of Aqaba and Nuweiba on the Gulf of Aqaba, and currently, overland transportation through Sinai via the Nuweiba / Taba / Tunnel route to the ports of East Port Said, Damietta, Abu Qir, Alexandria, and Dekheila. The plan aims to utilize direct maritime services between Egyptian, European, and American ports.
It’s worth mentioning that this ongoing service is currently being implemented as the first phase of operating the integrated multi-modal Arab trade route for transporting all Gulf, Iraq, and Jordan trade goods through Egypt by land to European and American ports.
The Ministry of Transport’s statement noted that, as part of establishing this integrated axis, the ministry is currently implementing the second phase of the integrated Arab trade route by constructing a railway line from Taba/Al-Arish/Bir El Abd/Al-Firdan, covering a length of 500 kilometers. This is aimed at increasing the volume of goods targeted for transportation from the Gulf, Iraq, and Jordan to Europe and America.
It is worth mentioning that Egypt has modified all necessary customs legislation to facilitate and increase the direct international transit through the Egyptian state and its basic infrastructure of ports, road networks, and railways. The ministry has also joined the TIR and Vienna agreements of 1968, which facilitate the entry of foreign trucks for transit through Egyptian territory in the shortest possible time, as part of the plan to transform Egypt into a center for global trade and logistics.