Azernews.Az

Georgian Regional Development and Infrastructure Minister David Narmania and Turkish Ambassador to Georgia Levent Murat Burhan have discussed bilateral relations and joint projects.

According to the ministry, the parties paid special attention to the course of the construction of the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway. Georgia implements this project jointly with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

During the meeting, Narmania stressed the strategic importance of the BTK and drew particular attention to the economic benefits that the countries involved in the project will receive.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project aims to link directly the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to transport large amounts of cargo and passengers. The railway is being built in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement reached by the three countries.

According to Azerbaijan Railways chairman Arif Asgarov, the railway will be fully commissioned in 2014, while a first test train to the Turkish border is planned to be dispatched by late 2012.

The project will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Its throughput capacity will peak at 17 million tons of cargo per year. Initially, the capacity will be 6.5 million tons of consignments and 1 million passengers.