Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The process of signing an intergovernmental agreement within the framework of the Silk Wind project, which aims to launch a container train through China-Kazakhstan-Caspian-Caucasus-Turkey to Europe and which will decrease the delivery time of goods by two times compared to maritime transport (from 35 days to 12-14 days), is now delayed, TRACECA National Secretary in Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev told Trend Jan. 8.
The Silk Wind project, aimed at launching the China-Kazakhstan-Caspian-Caucasus- Turkey-Europe container train, was initiated under the TRACECA program.
According to the scheme, proposed by Kazakhstan (the initiator of the project), it was projected that the cargo containers from China will be transported to the Kazakh coast of the Caspian sea by rail. Then they will be reloaded to the sea ferry and taken to the port of Baku. From the capital of Azerbaijan, cargo containers will be delivered by rail to the Georgian ports, from where cargo will be transported to the ports of Turkey by the container ships.
Mustafayev said it was expected that the intergovernmental agreement between Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey would be signed in late January as part of the 11th conference of the intergovernmental commission of TRACECA. However, Turkey has proposed to amend the draft intergovernmental agreement, according to which the Silk Wind route will run not through the Georgian ports (Batumi and Poti), but cover the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railroad.
In this case, the route will be as follows: China-Kazakhstan-the Caspian Sea-the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey), according to the National Secretary.
"The draft intergovernmental agreement has already been agreed upon, but the proposal of the Turkish side demands that this procedure was carried out again," said Mustafayev. "The proposal of the Turkish side, of course, is supported by Azerbaijan and Georgia, as these countries are members of this important railway project (BTK)."
He said that the introduction of additions (on the initiative of the Turkish side) to the draft intergovernmental agreement will take time, since the implementation of internal procedures in all countries is quite a long and complex process.
The purpose of the Silk Wind project is to create a multimodal train route (container/RO RO) with a primary information exchange system between customs services and railway operators of the project's partners. Countries participating in the project plan to introduce a single tariff on cargo transportation.
TRACECA is an international cooperation program in the field of transport between the EU and partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The organization has a permanent secretariat in Baku.
TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Iran.
Edited by CN
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