PM: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia enjoy successful energy cooperation
By Kamila Aliyeva
Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia enjoy successful and fruitful cooperation while implementing large-scale projects in the energy sector.
The Turkey-Azerbaijan- Georgia cooperation is of high importance for the regional development, said Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who is on an official visit to Georgia. He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart Georgy Kvirikashvili in Tbilisi on May 23.
Yildirim noted that the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK), which is an important link in the trilateral cooperation, is at the final stage.
He noted that BTK will strengthen tripartite trade cooperation.
Kvirikashvili, in turn, said that the BTK is a project of strategic importance.
"The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is not a regional project, it is of international importance. The importance of this project was pointed out at the recent global forum in China. The project will start working this summer and testing period will last until the autumn," he said.
The BTK railroad is built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish interstate agreement. Peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, it will serve one million passengers and transport 6.5 million tons of cargo.
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is expected to further strengthen the neighborly and fraternal relations among the three countries and enable the countries to supply domestically produced goods to the world markets.
Meanwhile, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Shimshek stated that the implementation of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project will strengthen Turkey's energy role in the region.
Shimshek noted that TANAP is one of the most important energy projects in the region, which, at the same time, contributes to the strengthening of the economy of Turkey and Azerbaijan.
"TANAP will also contribute to the strengthening of Azerbaijani economy," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The length of TANAP is 1,800 kilometers with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters. Around six billion cubic meters of the gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe.
The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline’s construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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