National cargo transportation via TRACECA up in 2021

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of cargo transportation through the Azerbaijani section of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) transport corridor increased by 3 percent and amounted to 39.6 million tons in 2021, the State Statistics Committee has reported.

Last year, automobiles transported 21.6 million tons or 54.5 percent of cargo, rail transported 13.4 million tons or 34 percent, and sea transported 4.5 million tons or 11.5 percent.

During the reported year, transit cargoes accounted for 8.8 million tons or 22.3 percent of total freight traffic along the TRACECA corridor.

During a meeting between Azerbaijani Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev and TRACECA Secretary-General Asset Asavbayev, Azerbaijan and TRACECA agreed on cooperation in the areas of corridor geography expansion and digitalization. The parties agreed to collaborate in the development of multimodal transportation, increasing the competitiveness of container traffic, developing new projects that may help attract additional cargo flows to the corridor, and increasing efforts to promote the TRACECA corridor at the bilateral and international levels.

TRACECA, which was founded in 1993, is an international transportation program involving the European Union and 12 member states from the Eastern European, Caucasian, and Central Asian regions (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan).