Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijani, Georgian, Kazakhstani and Turkish transport ministries have signed memorandum on Silk Wind project within transport corridor Europe - Caucasus - Asia (TRACECA), Kazakh Transport and Communication Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"The memorandum on the principles of joint activities for development of the transport network and organization of cargo transportation was signed in Izmir, Turkey...," the Kazakh Ministry said.

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 and is under construction.

TRACECA is an international transport cooperation program between the EU and its partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. Current TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Iran.

According to the Kazakh Ministry, the Silk Wind project's objective is to create a multimodal route of trains (using containers/ro-ro) with preliminary exchange of information between customs authorities and railway operators of the participating countries.

Launching the Silk Wind project will be possible only after the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is completed.

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

The railway 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.