Azernews.Az

By Aynut Jafarova

Turkey highly appreciates the investments made in its economy, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told local TV on October 13.

He noted the project for construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is very important for Turkey.

"Turkey is aiming at turning country's territory into an energy corridor, which will connect the South Caucasus and Europe," he added.

Being a regional rail link project that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, the BTK railway is planned to be completed in late 2015.

Azerbaijan has allocated a $775 million loan to the construction of the Georgian section of the railway.

Financed by Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ, the project was implemented after Azerbaijan's President issued a decree on the 'Implementation of measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project', on February 21, 2007.

The total length of the BTK is 826 kilometers (about 513 miles). After commissioning the railway, mutual trade between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey will increase significantly, the total volume exceeding $10 billion per year.

Azerbaijan and Turkey's relations have always been strong due to their common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity, and realize its economic potential that arises from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Economic projects, jointly implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey, are bringing these countries together and strengthening their cooperation. The two countries' economies and cooperation have reached a high level.

SOCAR is one of the world's most well-established oil companies, active in Turkey since May 30, 2008. SOCAR is involved in a number of major investment projects in Turkey, including the construction of TANAP, Star refinery, and others. The volume of investment of SOCAR in Turkey's economy will reach $5 billion by late 2014.