BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 11. We are planning – in fact, much earlier than we planned before – to expand the potential of the Alat Trade Port – from 15 to 25 million tons, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said during an expanded meeting of the First Interstate Council of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, Trend reports.
"Today, having no access to the world ocean, Azerbaijan has already created an important transport network. Of course, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway will be part of the Middle Corridor. The fact that this is happening now is also understandable, of course. But the main thing is that all projects that are being implemented in your region and in the region of the western Caspian should be synchronized so that we can plan both to increase and expand our port capabilities. It has already been said that we are planning – in fact, much earlier than we planned before – to expand the potential of the Alat Trade Port – from 15 to 25 million tons. In principle, such plans were there from the very beginning, but we were looking at that as something distant, as a distant future. But today, on some days, there are even traffic jams in the port because the amount of cargo is growing rapidly. The figure has already been announced here – 60 percent growth in nine months is a significant indicator in the transportation of goods," the head of state said.