During the meeting in Tbilisi on January 12-13, the Transport Ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey do not intend to sign agreement on the project of the construction of Kars-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki rail link.
The Azerbaijan Ambassador to Georgia, Namik Aliyev, exclusively informed Trend that after the sides reach a concluding agreement on all questions linked with the contract, the document will be sent to the governments of the countries for consideration and approval. Most of the questions have already been agreed at the meeting in Tbilisi, and on January 13, the negotiations will continue, the Ambassador said.
The Transport Minister of Azerbaijan, Ziya Mammadov, said that Azerbaijan stands ready to fully finance its share in the project in amount of $200 mln. During the meeting on 13 October 2006 in Baku, the trilateral working group on the realization of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku project considered the project in the framework agreement, obligations of the Georgian side on leading the section of the construction of the railway and credit agreement between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia. The project is estimated at $422 mln, but taking into consideration the additional infrastructure development projects it cost $600 mln.
The U.S. Administration banned the American companies to participate in financing the project. The trilateral Azerbaijan-Turkish-Georgian declaration on construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku rail link was signed in May 2005 in Baku by the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.