Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.23
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Clear interest exists in the Netherlands to link up to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Trend.
“We think this to be an important development with considerable economic prospects. Azerbaijan is not only historically a bridge between the east and the west, but this railway can be an important connection between Europa and Asia, with your country as a logistics hub. Although officially joining the project is not very likely, there exists clear interest in the Netherlands to link up to this railway and explore opportunities to connect our country and transport goods to Asia and vice versa. There are already contacts between Cabooter Group, a logistical company based in Venlo, and Port Alat with a view to make transporting goods either way a reality,” said the ministry.
As far as the Netherlands is concerned, there certainly is interest in further developing bilateral port cooperation, according to the Foreign Ministry.
“Some years ago, both the city and port of Rotterdam visited Baku and the port of Rotterdam participated actively in the 2018 World Ports Conference in Baku. Given the potential of port Alat and the vast experience and knowledge of the Port of Rotterdam, there are obviously ample prospects for future cooperation in this field,” said the ministry.
The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku Oct. 30, 2017. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.
The railway’s peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.
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