BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 8
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
As much as 1 million tons of goods have been transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway since its commissioning, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu said, Trend reports citing the Turkish media.
Karaismailoglu stressed that the BTK, which connects Asia and Europe, and Silk Road railways, known as the Middle Corridor, are gaining momentum.
"Around 393,000 tons of cargo with 8,377 containers in 6,814 wagons were exported, while imports amounted to 614,000 tons in 9,465 wagons," he said.
Karaismailoglu stressed the important role of transit traffic in import and transportation in order to ensure the most flexible and economical reach of export, import, and transit cargo, saying that this is a priority in terms of infrastructure, technical and customs operations.
He noted that the BTK railway is the fastest, most reliable, and economical way of delivery on the Asian-European line.
"From January through May 2020, 236,000 tons of cargo in 3,000 wagons were transported through the BTK. During the same period of 2021, transportation increased by 19 percent, to 280,000 tons. Export traffic along this line to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan also increased. In the first 5 months of this year, 64,000 tons of cargo were transported," the minister said.