BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 28
By Ilkin Seyfaddini – Trend:
First freight trains assembled in Kyrgyzstan, have passed through Uzbekistan to Georgia, Trend reported citing Uzbekistan Railways press service.
The trains from Kyrgyzstan's Karasu transported some 50 fuel tanks to Georgia's Batumi, in 33 hours, said the statement.
Uzbekistan's Railways further said that the next several trains are being prepared to go the same route to Georgia and Azerbaijan.
In December 2019, Tashkent hosted a meeting of of Azerbaijan's, Georgia's, Kyrgyzstan's, Turkmenistan's and Uzbekistan's railway services. The parties agreed to launch the international multimodal route between these five countries in the first quarter of 2020.
The participants established unified transit tariff rates, as well as a coordination committee.
In December 2017, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved a program of foreign trade routes diversification for 2018-2022. In particular, it was planned to start pilot transit traffic on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line in the first quarter of 2018.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was built in October 2017 on the basis of the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey interstate agreement. According to its participants, at the initial stage the volume of cargo transportation will be at the level of 6.5 million tons, and up to one million passengers will be transported.