Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 27
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Mammetkhan Chakyev plans to discuss implementation of the Lapis Lazuli transit and transport cooperation project during his working trip to Azerbaijan, the Turkmen government said in a statement.
The corresponding instruction was voiced by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov during the last meeting of the government.
Chakyev said that in order to promote the creation of sustainable multi-modal transit corridors, the development of an international legal framework for formation of transport networks combining road, rail, sea and air routes through logistic centers and ports is being continued, the message says.
The importance of such transport corridors as Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman, Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran, and Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, opening up new opportunities for increasing freight traffic, was underlined.
According to the Lapis Lazuli project, railways and highways will connect the city of Torghundi in the Afghan province of Herat with Turkmenistan's Ashgabat, and further with the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi. The corridor will extend to the new port of Baku in Alat, going further through Tbilisi to Ankara with branches leading to Poti and Batumi in Georgia, and go ahead from Ankara to Istanbul.
The budget of the project is estimated at $2 billion. This large-scale project is aimed at increasing the economic integration of countries in the region and increasing trade.