Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.23
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The Netherlands can offer technical support for the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat township in Azerbaijan, former president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), chairman of the Dutch Friends of Azerbaijan Group Rene van der Linden said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
He noted that in March a high-level delegation from the Port of Baku will visit Venlo, the most important logistics center in the Netherlands on the mainland.
“We have huge industrial settlements, all connected to logistics facilities. We can offer the most modern innovative way of dealing with logistics,” said Rene van der Linden.
He noted that at the moment, the discussions are being held at the level of Dutch government and the Port of Baku.
Azerbaijan is now building a modern port with all the facilities and the Netherlands can render technical support on the basis of its longstanding experience.
Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said that the first phase of construction of the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat settlement will be completed in May 2018.
Mustafayev noted that after the first phase’s completion, the port’s capacity will be 15 million tons per year.
“The port’s capacity will be increased up to 25 million tons of cargo and 500,000 containers per year at the second stage, and up to one million containers per year – at the next stage,” noted the minister.
In 2017, the volume of freight traffic through the Baku International Sea Trade Port (excluding the oil terminal) rose by 31 percent and totaled 4.4 million tons as compared to 2016. About 85.7 percent of the total volume accounted for the share of transit cargo transportation.
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