BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian-Ioan Burduja described Azerbaijan as a crucial "bridge" linking the Caspian and Black Seas for cargo transportation from Asia to Europe, Trend reports following the 8th meeting of the Joint Commission on economic-trade relations and scientific-technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and Romania in Baku.
"Amidst the current challenging circumstances, the advancement of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, or Middle Corridor) holds significant importance for cargo transportation between Asia and Europe, and vice versa. The recent issues with the Suez Canal underscore the increasing significance of alternative corridors," the minister said.
Samir Mammadov, Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan, who addressed the meeting, noted the prospect of the participation of Romanian companies in TITR.
"A primary advantage of the TITR is the strong, cooperative relationships among the countries along its path. Collaboratively, we're endeavoring to enhance the corridor alongside partner nations while also addressing any bottlenecks along the route to ensure its successful development," Mammadov said.
He noted that in 2023, the transportation volume through TITR surged by 86 percent, reaching 2.76 million tons, compared to 1.5 million tons in 2022 and 586,000 tons in 2021.
TITR, operational for a decade, aims to incrementally elevate transit through it to 10 million tons annually or more by 2030.
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