Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

A ceremony of first coupling works on rail lines under the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) project was held in the Turkish province of Kars on June 27, Anadolu news agency reported.

Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian transport ministers are meeting in Kars to discuss the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project on June 26-28.

Turkish Minister of Transport Binali Yildirim, Azerbaijani Minister of Transport Ziya Mammadov, and Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Kvirikashvili attended the ceremony.

According to Yildirim, after the BTK project is realized, it will be open to all, including the European Union countries.

"This project is not only a project of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, but also a project of Central Asian countries, China, the Balkans, the Middle East and even the EU. Well-being of countries and the region will increase further," he said.

According to the Azerbaijani transport minister, all the people working on the project are doing very important historic work.

"People will be able to travel from one region to another. The business world and entrepreneurs will take advantage of this corridor for the transportation of goods. They will enrich their budgets," Mammadov said.

The Georgian minister, for his part, thanked all those involved in the work on the railway project.

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia are three strategic partners and this project makes people of the three countries closer, Kvirikashvili said.

The railway is expected to be fully commissioned by late 2013. During 2014, start-up and adjustment operations will be conducted, organizational and administrative issues solved.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being built in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement reached by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe.

Azerbaijan has allocated a loan worth $775 million for the construction of the Georgian section of the railway. Funding for the project from the State Oil Fund is carried out in accord with the 2007 presidential decree on taking measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project.

It is planned to construct a new 105 kilometer branch railway as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the section of the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway will be reconstructed in Georgia, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is envisioned to build a center in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing train tracks in Georgia to the European ones.

It is expected that around 30 million tons of cargo a year will be transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, which will become a direct route to the European rail network.