BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 7
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project provides impetus to the port infrastructure of Azerbaijan and Georgia, Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zurab Pataridze told Trend.
Ambassador noted that Azerbaijan and Georgia are engaged in such large-scale projects as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK); the projects are developing and bring success to the economies of both countries.
“We must make efforts to develop our close relations even more,” Pataridze noted.
According to the ambassador, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars is a continuation of the Silk Road, and Azerbaijan and Georgia must do everything to make this road recognizable.
“Some people think that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars is a competitor to the ports of our countries. I think they are rather not competitors, as they complement each other and give more impulses for transportation of new cargoes. The ports of our countries have their own strategy, and they are developing dynamically,” Patarizde emphasized.
On Oct. 30, 2017, a solemn ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was held at the Baku International Sea Trade Port.
The BTK railway has been built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. At the initial stage, the volume of freight traffic will be at the level of 6.5 million tons of cargo, and up to one million passengers will be transported through this railway.
The BTK can greatly reduce the time of delivery of goods from China to Europe via Azerbaijan, which makes this route especially attractive.
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