Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend E.Huseynov / The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project may be a new and beneficial project for transportation of cargos from Kazakhstan and China to the European markets. "Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and New Silk Way will be new and beneficial projects for transporting cargos from Kazakhstan and China to the European markets," said the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in his interview with Kazinform on the eve of his official two-day visit to Kazakhstan.
According to the President, large-scale economic projects connecting the two countries is the transportation of energy resources and Kazakhstan's connection to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway may be the second large-scale project. "For long years, we have been carrying out work to realize the project. Unfortunately formerly we were depending on the credits and international financial institutions were not glad with the realization of the project. Currently we can implement it ourselves. In addition, we allocated $200mln privileged credit for Georgia so that Tbilisi can use these funds in constructing its section of the railway," Aliyev said.
The gross expenses on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project are estimated at $420mln and the construction is planned to commence in autumn. In February 2007 Turkey, Georgia Azerbaijan signed trilateral agreement and talks were held with Kazakhstan on Country's connection to the project.
In addition, Aliyev highlighted the importance of other economic projects, including launching of a grain terminal in Baku and construction of a vegetable terminal in Kazakhstan. "Currently Azerbaijani-Kazakh Inter-Governmental Commission is searching new projects for co-operation. Of course, we provide support to the private sector and therefore, the political relations between the two countries are guarantee of comfort for our business people. I am sure that many new joint projects will appear in the future and our economic potential will be growing," President of Azerbaijan said.