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Georgian minister: Use of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway for transit of goods from Afghanistan is under consideration

Georgia Materials 5 April 2013 17:37 (UTC +04:00)
The issue of using the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway for the transit of goods from Afghanistan is under consideration, Georgian State Minister for European Integration Alexi Petriashvili said at a press conference on Friday. He was commenting on the fact that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway can be used to transit goods and ISAF forces from Afghanistan.
Georgian minister: Use of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway for transit of goods from Afghanistan is under consideration

Georgia, Tbilisi, April 5 / Trend, N. Kirtzkhalia /

The issue of using the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway for the transit of goods from Afghanistan is under consideration, Georgian State Minister for European Integration Alexi Petriashvili said at a press conference on Friday. He was commenting on the fact that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway can be used to transit goods and ISAF forces from Afghanistan.

"We have already decided that we will continue participating in the ISAF mission after 2014," he said. "But this mission will be on the level of scientists and experts. Regarding transit ways, this project is being considered, but the actual decision has not been made yet. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project will be important not only for Georgia in this regard, but on many other areas."

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being built on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish inter-state agreement. Azerbaijan provided a loan worth $775 million for construction of the Georgian section.

Funding for this project from the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan is carried out according to a presidential decree on the 'Implementation of measures within Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project' dated February 21, 2007.

The plans exist to construct a new 105 kilometer branch railroad within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, 76 kilometers will stretch through Turkey, 29 kilometers through Georgia.

Peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo. This figure will initially be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

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