Official: Geographic location allows Azerbaijan to turn into major transit center

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

The unique geographic location of Azerbaijan and the conditions created in the country, make it possible to become a major transit center.

Javid Gurbanov, Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC made the statement speaking at the Global Conference on Sustainable Transport in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on November 27.

Gurbanov also spoke about Azerbaijan's economic successes and development of the transport sector, in spite of the occupation policy of Armenia towards Azerbaijan.

At the conference, Gurbanov held a bilateral meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.

The meeting discussed strengthening and expansion of relations between the two countries, as well as prospects of relations in the sphere of transport and transit opportunities.

The sides emphasized that cooperation in this sphere between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan has great prospects.

The Global Conference on Sustainable Transport was held in Ashgabat on November 26-27, in accordance with resolution 70/197 of the UN General Assembly on December 22, 2015 called "On the way to ensure full cooperation between all modes of transport in order to facilitate the creation of sustainable multi-modal transit corridors."

Today, the development of the transport sector is a priority for the Azerbaijani leadership.

Railways of Azerbaijan with access through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to Turkey made the most important link of the new Silk Road.

Moreover, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and North-South projects contribute to the development of not only Azerbaijan but also the whole region. Today, BTK connects railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. However, in the future it is planned to connect railways of the Caucasus with the European railways 

Earlier in May Azerbaijan signed a protocol about the joining of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC to the international railway project "Viking".

Combined transport train Viking started running in 2003. Participants in the project are Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and in 2012 Bulgaria joined the project. The total length of the route Ilyichevsk (Ukraine) - Minsk (Belarus) - Draugyste (Lithuania) is 1,766 kilometers.

In February 2016, Ukraine and Lithuania signed a Memorandum on joining the container train Viking to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route from Europe to China, passing through Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

The participation of Azerbaijan Railways in the Viking project will allow extending the container train route to more distant Asian countries, an alternative route to reach Kazakhstan and China. It is expected that once Azerbaijan Railways joins the project, more freight will be transported to the Baltic region from Kazakhstan and China, and the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be used to transport containers from Turkey to Ukrainian ports.