BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11
By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:
Azerbaijan is becoming a key part of the East-West Transport Corridor, Azerbaijani MP Javid Osmanov told Trend.
“One Belt, One Road is a very profitable project,” the MP said. “This project is aimed at restoring the historic Silk Road.”
“The project will ensure the supply of the Chinese goods to the Western markets in several directions,” Osmanov added.
Noting Azerbaijan’s essential contribution to the project, Osmanov stressed that cooperation with China is of great importance for the region.
“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pays special attention to the further development of the Azerbaijan-China relations,” the MP said.
“Azerbaijan’s big investments in transport infrastructure and the implementation of a number of important transport projects have aroused the Chinese government’s great interest in Azerbaijan,” MP Tahir Rzayev told Trend.
"The agreements signed between China and Azerbaijan and an increase in trade turnover testify to the rapid development of relations between the countries,” the MP said. “These relations are based on the principles of mutual benefit and friendship. China not only invests much in the development of Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector but also opens its vast markets for Azerbaijan to export the non-oil products."
Rzayev stressed that the development of the China-Azerbaijan relations also led to an increase in trade turnover between the countries. "As a result, China is one of the four biggest trading partners of Azerbaijan," the MP said.
Rzayev added that the recent commissioning of the international port in the Alat settlement and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has turned the country into a transport hub connecting Central Asia with the west (Turkey and the EU) and South Asia (Iran and India) with the north.
The MP said that Azerbaijan has gained the image of a reliable partner thanks to the successful implementation of all its planned transport projects, as well as the One Road One Belt project.
"The big revenues that our country will receive within the aforementioned project will open the way for Azerbaijan’s even greater development and will help Azerbaijan become an important transit country in the world trade," Rzayev said.
The China Railway Express freight train, heading from China to Europe via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, passing Istanbul, is moving to Europe through the Marmaray tunnel.