Azernews.Az

The issue of using the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway for transit of goods from Afghanistan is under consideration, Georgian State Minister for European Integration Alexi Petriashvili said at a press conference on Friday. He was commenting on the fact that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway can be used to transit goods and ISAF forces from Afghanistan.

"We have already decided that we will continue participating in the ISAF mission after 2014," he said. "But this mission will be on the level of scientists and experts. Regarding transit ways, this project is being considered, but the actual decision has not been made yet. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project will be important not only for Georgia in this regard, but on many other areas."

The BTK railway project aims to link directly the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to transport large amounts of cargo and passengers.

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. 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.

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 project.