Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20
Trend:
Turkey and Georgia intend to bring freight by rail to 500 thousand tons per year, reports Trend with reference to apsny.ge.
This intention is reflected in a memorandum of cooperation signed between Taşımacılık AŞ, the subsidiary of the State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (TCDD), and Logistics and Terminals, the subsidiary of the Georgian Railway JSC. The agreement, which has been signed during the visit of the Georgian delegation to Turkey, aims to further develop Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project (BTK).
In the framework of the visit to Ankara, the Georgian delegation met with General Director of TCDD Ali Ihsan Uigun and Head of Taşımacılık AŞ Ash Erol Arykan. The parties discussed cooperation between the railway companies of Turkey and Georgia. The sides also stressed the intention to implement joint projects aimed at the development of international railway corridors, loading points for intermodal terminals and other infrastructure facilities.
Railway companies of both countries intend to strengthen strategic and economic cooperation in order to increase the potential of transit freight traffic, which, in turn, shall contribute to the development of Georgian-Turkish relations, the news report says.
As reported, Turkey and Georgia also intend to bring cargo transportation via BTK to one million tons per year in the short term, and to three -four million tons in the medium term. The two countries are also considering the possibility of switching to a combined cargo transportation route via rail and sea in the future.
The BTK railway, which opened in October 2017, was built according to the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish interstate agreement. BTK can significantly shorten the delivery of goods from China to Europe through the territory of Azerbaijan, what makes this route particularly attractive.