Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19
Trend:
Georgia is applying the lowest tariffs for cargo transportation via the South-West corridor, Mamuka Bakhtadze, chairman of the Georgian Railway LLC, said.
He made the remarks June 19 in Baku at the meeting of heads of railway companies of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, and Iran.
He said the tariff applied by the Georgian Railway LLC for the South-West route is $123 per container.
“This is the lowest tariff applied by the Georgian Railway LLC,” Bakhtadze said. “Even domestic transportation is more expensive. This underlines the priority Georgia gives to this corridor.”
He noted that in a week, consultations between the railway companies of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran will take place in Tbilisi, and invited Ukraine and Poland to participate in the consultations.
Bakhtadze also said the integration of India is critically important for the future development of the corridor.
Along with the Trans-Caspian and North-South corridors, the South-West corridor is of great importance for Azerbaijan. The South-West corridor is supposed to run from India to Europe through Persian Gulf, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Black Sea. At an initial stage, it is planned to transport 10 million tons of cargo via this route with the possibility of increasing the transportation volume by several times in the future.
An agreement on the South-West corridor was signed in 2016 by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Ukraine in Baku. The corridor will make it possible to slash the time of cargo transportation from India to Europe by two or three times.