An Alstom-led consortium, together with its partner Hyundai Engineering & Construction, have signed a Letter of Intent with the Iraqi Ministry of Transport to define a framework for all the appropriate steps to accelerate the implementation of the Baghdad Elevated Train (BET). The Letter of Intent was signed during the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi's official visit to Paris. The signing ceremony was held in Matignon in the presence of Jean Castex, the French Prime Minister and Mustafa Al Kadhimi, the Iraqi Prime Minister. "We are extremely delighted to sign the Letter of Intent and develop our cooperation with the Republic of Iraq. We believe that with this important project together with the Iraqi government we will implement our latest innovative technologies to improve the mobility environment in Baghdad and reduce the current traffic congestion," said Müslum Yakisan, senior vice president for the Africa, Middle-East and Central Asia region at Alstom. Alstom's metros are world-leading, proven, safe and reliable trains that serve many of the world's great cities, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Paris and Singapore. Alstom has more than 65 years' experience in the production of metros, having sold over 17,000 metro cars that operate in 55 cities around the world and carry 30 million passengers every day. Alstom is already well established in the Africa, Middle East & Central Asia region with nearly 5,000 employees, 2,240 suppliers and present in more than 15 countries in the region with offices and manufacturing plants in Algeria, Morocco, South Africa and Kazakhstan. As well as delivering the Dubai tramway, the first fully integrated tramway system in the Middle East and the world's first 100% catenary-free line, which was opened in November 2014, the company has been tasked with the maintenance of Dubai Tram for a period of 13 years. The Alstom-led Consortium, ExpoLink, is also responsible for delivering the world's fastest-built turnkey driverless metro project, Dubai Route 2020 Metro, which was inaugurated in June 2020. In Saudi Arabia, Alstom, as part of FAST consortium, is supplying a fully integrated metro system for lines 4, 5 and 6, which includes 69 Metropolis-based Riyadh Metro trains, Urbalis signaling system, Hesop energy recovery station and tracks. — SG
