Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug 2
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Azerbaijan has a great potential in cargo transit and transportation, country’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said in an interview to ‘Azerbaijan’ state newspaper.
Mustafayev, who is also the chairman of country’s Coordinating Council on Transit Freight, said that the revenues can be increased by effectively using the country’s potential.
"The global initiatives and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s state policy on bringing the country's transportation infrastructure to the international standards and increasing its transit potential contributes significantly to the country's social and economic development,” Minister added.
“Furthermore, Azerbaijan had turned in to an important transport hub, accommodating various transit routes, the country’s positions in the world and in the region had been amplified and its political and strategic importance had grown," said Mustafayev.
Minister added that the Coordinating Council on Transit Freight was established in accordance with the President’s October 21, 2015 decree and is dedicated to the effective use of the country’s transit potential.
"As a result of the Coordinating Council's activity, almost 16,000 trucks passed through the territory of Azerbaijan in January-June of 2017, which, by 1.5 times, is more, compared with the same period of 2016,” said Mustafayev.
“In general, 5.5 million tons of various transit cargos were transported through the country’s territory in January-June of 2017. About 80 percent (4.4 million tons) of those cargos accounted for oil and oil products, 20 percent (1.1 million tons) – non-oil products. The transportation of oil and oil products increased by 23 percent, while non-oil products by 36 percent in January-June of 2017 compared with the same period of 2016,” Minister noted.