Azerbaijan serious about developing North-South corridor
Azerbaijan is serious about the development of North-South transit corridor, Hossein Ashoori, vice president of operation and international transportation of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways said.
He said that Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan hold a meeting every month to discuss the development of North-South corridor and Baku has taken a key role in this project.
Iran and India have also had two meetings during the current year, because one of the participanting transit countries in the mentioned route is India.
"We would launch combined transit system for now. The first experimental cargo transiting from India to Russia through Iran and Azerbaijan will be carried out in August. The cargo will be shipped from India to Bandar Abbas port by the Persian Gulf, then it will be transited via rail to the city of Qazvin, then carried by trucks to Azerbaijan's city of Astara near the border with Iran. Finally the cargo will be delivered to Russia though the Azerbaijan-Russia railroad," said Ashoori.
Ashoori said that the only remained sector of the corridor is Rasht-Astara, which is expected to be completed in 4-5 years.
Qazavin-Rasht route, as well as the railway bridge with a length of 82.5 meters on the border of Azerbaijan and Iran over the Astarachay River as well as a pert of railroad in Azerbaijan (8 km) are expected to be completed in 6 months.
He said that the participant countries have defined two interim routes for combined transportation: Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia as well as Iran-Azerbaijan-Georgia (Batumi port).
Ashoori added that trade and cargo transit through railroad between Iran and EU is expected to increase significantly in 2017 due to the result of elimination of sanctions on Iran in January 2016.
"Coning to Azerbaijan, the cargoes can be shipped in Iran's Amirabad port and be delivered to Alat or Baku ports, then they can be carried through railroad to Georgia. The second option is to load the cargoes in Astara to Azerbaijani trains and transporting to Georgia," he said.
Ashoori expressed hope that Azerbaijan will help with financing Iran's remaining section of the Rasht-Astara route.
Azerbaijan has agreed to allocate $500 million to the project. The agreement on the generalities has been achieved and the sides would start negotiations on the details on July 26.
Azerbaijan plans to increase investments in Turkey up to $20B
Azerbaijan plans to increase investments in Turkey up to $20 billion until 2018, said Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev in his interview with Yeni Safak newspaper.
“Currently, the volume of Azerbaijani investments in Turkey totals $8 billion,” said Mustafayev.
He also noted that Turkey has invested nearly $10 billion in Azerbaijan.
Currently, more than 1,700 Azerbaijani companies operate in Turkey and the number of Turkish companies in Azerbaijan exceeds 2,700.
“These companies are operating in various spheres of economy,” said Mustafayev. “There is Turkish capital in more than 30 percent of foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan, and Turkey is in the first place on this indicator.”
Turkish companies are contractors of infrastructure projects worth $10.6 billion, he added.
The minister said that relations between the two countries are developing within strategic partnership; trade and economic cooperation is also being built on this strong basis.
Mustafayev added that the attractive environment for investments and joint business in both countries created opportunities for mutual investing.
He noted that Azerbaijan and Turkey are initiators and participants of large energy projects in the region.
“The international community welcomes joint efforts of Turkey and Azerbaijan on the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project, aimed at ensuring energy security of Europe,” he said.
The minister noted that construction of another largest project – Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway – will be completed in the near future. Such important projects serve for the economic well-being of not only Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also the entire region, he added.
While the economies of other countries are going into a recession due to the last economic crisis in the world, Turkey came out of this crisis with minimal losses that once again proved the country’s strong financial stability, he said.
Mustafayev noted that economic growth allows Turkey to implement many large projects in transportation, energy and other spheres and some of these projects will be completed in the near future.
“The current situation in Turkish economy will be able to withstand the impact of recent events. The government will be able to achieve its economic goals,” added the minister. “We believe that brotherly Turkey, as in the past, will remain as an attractive country for investors.”
Turkey is one of Azerbaijan’s main trade partners. Trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $685.71 million in H1 2016 and on this indicator, Turkey ranks the 3rd in the list of Azerbaijan’s main trade partners, according to Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee.