Azeri, Georgian, Turkish Transport Ministers are meeting in Tbilisi in late June within the framework of opening railroad communication Kars-Ahalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku. Trend reports referring to Transport Minister Ziya Mamedov that the meeting in Tbilisi (earlier supposed to be led in Baku) is linked to Georgian Transport Ministers request and this issue is already coordinated with all parties at summit in Kiev.
The reason for delaying the meeting is revisions Georgian party suggested to make in the projects TEO.
At the forthcoming meeting the ministers will discuss and approve the final draft of the project to be further submitted to heads of states. At the moment there are three versions of TEPO on hand. Average cost of the project is some $400mln.
Mamedov said he doesnt rule out Azerbaijans financing Georgia in case the latter ha any trouble with funds. В"President Ilham Aliyev in Kiev also stated Azerbaijans readiness to undertake the most of the projectВ", - Minister said.
This route is mainly purposed for transportation of dry cargos, like metal, coal, sulfur, base metals, partially oil and oil products. Marketing studies prove railroads having greater transportation capacity and potential.
At the moment Georgian ports are unable to provide for transshipment of all cargos. Therefore, amounts of oil and oil products to transfer by railroad along Baku-Tbilisi-Ahalkalaki-Kars will not affect transshipment amounts in Georgia.