Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Opening of the Chyldyr-Aktas border checkpoint will lead to an increase of mutual investment and trade turnover between Turkey and the countries of the region, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who is on a visit to the Ardahan province of Turkey, said on June 18.

Following the launch of the checkpoint, which is located on the border between Turkey and Georgia, the travel time from the Turkish province to Azerbaijan will be 2-2.5 hours.

The reconstruction of the new checkpoint has cost Turkey some 52 million Turkish liras, Gul said.

He also said a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the implementation of which will also lead to economic growth in the province, will go through Ardahan.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be fully commissioned by late 2014. It 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 BTK railway project.