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Russian-Kazakh railway project from China to Europe not to affect BTK

Business Materials 14 November 2017 16:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14

By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:

The Russian-Kazakh project on the construction of a high-speed railway from China to Europe through their territories will not affect the operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, which was commissioned in late October, Akif Mustafayev, national secretary of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) in Azerbaijan, told Trend.

The expert added that China’s railway has already been connected to the railways of Kazakhstan and Russia, and several trains with container cargoes have already been launched from China via Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus and further to Europe.

"The issue is the construction of a new high-speed railway to reduce travel time,” he said. “We have reiterated that we do not compete with Russia or Iran on this route. These countries can also join BTK. We are ready to transport their cargoes.”

The expert said that the advantage of the Russian-Kazakh project is that these countries together with Belarus are members of the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.

"Trains cross the border easily, without special control and additional taxes, that is, these conditions have already been created,” Mustafayev said. “But the railway is longer and it is not very speedy. It will take a lot of time and multibillion investments to build a high-speed railway, however, the BTK railway is already working. When this project is implemented, we will consider it in the context of cooperation."

Mustafayev added that the implementation of the high-speed railway project from China to Europe through Kazakhstan and Russia will not affect the BTK operation.

"First of all, around 10 container trains from China to Europe via Russia have been already launched,” he said. “Secondly, the cargo potential is very big in China. The trade turnover between China and Europe is 500 billion euros and around 60 million containers a year. Even if Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan transport Chinese cargoes 24 hours a day, they will be unable to cover even 10 percent of this potential.

The expert added that the BTK railway has never aimed at competing with Russia or Iran.

"BTK railway should focus on creating more competitive conditions for Chinese carriers,” Mustafayev said. “It is necessary to show them that the route through the Central Corridor [through Azerbaijan] is more profitable, short, cost-effective and the tariffs are more reasonable. This means diversification of routes for supplying goods, which China can transport in three different ways.”

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev supported the idea of ​​constructing the China-Kazakhstan-Russia-Europe high-speed railway. During the Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum, held in Russia’s Chelyabinsk city on November 9-10, Russian President Vladimir Putin supported his Kazakh counterpart.

The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku Oct.30. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. At an initial stage, the railway’s capacity will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

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