Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 15
By Orkhan Quluzade - Trend:
Since the beginning of The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project, it has attracted the attention of Western countries and such Asian countries as China, which is located on the Silk Road, Binali Yildirim, Turkish minister of transport, shipping and communications, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
Yildirim said that the safest and most efficient transport corridor between Asia and Europe will stretch not only via Turkey but also Azerbaijan and Georgia due to the implementation of this project.
The minister said that the BTK railway will become even more important after it is connected with the Marmaray project (in Turkey) and thus connecting Europe with Asia.
"The BTK construction is underway," he said. "The rail transport is expected to start in 2017."
He said that the BTK project will further strengthen the neighborly and fraternal relations among Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, adding that this will enable to supply the goods produced in these countries to the world markets.
"Taking this into account, for Turkey, BTK is a network having economic and cultural aspects," Yıldırım said.
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. Azerbaijan allocated a loan of $775 million for the construction of the railway's Georgian section.
The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) finances the project in accordance with the Azerbaijani president's decree 'On the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project activities', dated February 21, 2007.
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be constructed in 2016.
The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be equal to one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.