Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 30
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
The opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is a historic event not only for the region but also for the world, member of the Azerbaijani parliament Aydin Mirzazade told Trend Oct. 30.
He said that the railway’s opening radically changes the situation in the region.
“There will be closer ties between the countries; hundreds of thousands of jobs will be opened. Cargoes from China to Europe will be delivered faster, and at the same time, this project will strengthen peace and security,” noted the MP.
This railway could pass through Armenia, but the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijani lands by this country deprived Armenia of participation in this promising project, he said.
Mirzazade added that the authority of Azerbaijan in the region has increased even more with the opening of this railway.
Being the initiator of such big projects, Azerbaijan turns into a desired ally, added the MP.
The official opening ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was held in Baku Oct.30. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. The railway’s peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.