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Azerbaijan ready to sign agreement on TRACECA's Silk Wind project

15 July 2013 12:56 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan ready to sign agreement on TRACECA's Silk Wind project

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan is prepared to sign an intergovernmental agreement on the Silk Wind project within the framework of the TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia), TRACECA National Secretary in Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev said on July 12.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey signed a memorandum on the Silk Wind transport project in November 2012.

According to Mustafayev, the project targets improving the transit conditions and launching container block-trains from China to the center of western Europe.

Referring to the negotiations on the signing of an intergovernmental agreement, Mustafayev said Kazakhstan, which is the initiator of the project, is ready to sign the document. Azerbaijan also agreed upon this issue within all entities, while Turkey and Georgia are in the process of internal coordination of the issue.

The Silk Wind project is serving as a supplement to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which aims to link directly the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to transport large amounts of cargo and passengers.

Mustafayev also said that with the creation of new transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan, the TRACECA transport corridor can handle containerized cargo, which can be delivered from China.

"The corridor is operating, but it has a lot of potential and related work is being carried out for its use," Mustafayev said.

According to Mustafayev, various technical projects funded by the European Commission are implemented annually to make the TRACECA corridor more attrative and to develop it further. These projects aim to conduct the necessary research, organize workshops and training courses, to train specialists and study the experience of other countries.

Mustafayev also said the TRACECA participating countries implement multi-million-dollar projects in the field of transport infrastructure, which cover the creation of the necessary road infrastructure, railways, in particular, the establishment of a new international sea port in Azerbaijan and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

A variety of transportation projects are implemented in other countries of the TRACECA corridor, including Kazakhstan and Turkey.

Speaking about the future of the corridor, Mustafayev noted that it is necessary to think about bringing large volumes of containerized cargo from China.

"It's about 12 million containers per year, which are transported across the ocean to Europe and America," he said.

Accordingly, the involvement of some containerized cargo -- about 360,000 containers -- from China will increase the volume of cargo transportation via the corridor.

"With the commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is still under construction, as well as considering the fact that a new port in the Alat settlement [near the Azerbaijani capital Baku] will be commissioned over the next few years, it will be possible to reach a large amount of cargo. Additionally, Azerbaijan is working on modernization and reconstruction of railways and rolling stock," Mustafayev said.

TRACECA is an international transport program involving the European Union and 14 member states of the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia regions. It has a permanent Secretariat, financed by the European Commission, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and a regional office in Odessa, Ukraine. Since 2009 the organization has been entirely financed by member countries.

Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan participate in the TRACECA program.

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