Georgia intends to increase attractiveness of BTK together with Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Rashad Nabiyev met with Georgian Ambassador Zurab Pataradze.

The meeting focused on strategic, friendly, and good-neighborly relations between the two countries and stressed the importance of developing infrastructures such as free economic zones, roads, railways, and seaports.

The sides also noted the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project. Pataradze suggested holding joint presentations of the project in different countries to load the line entirely. According to him, this can increase awareness of the corridor, as well as fully demonstrate the potential of the route.

At the end of the meeting, the sides expressed readiness for close cooperation.

BTK was launched on October 30, 2017. The line connects the railway networks between Asia and Europe. This is the shortest route not only between the three countries but also between Asia and Europe. BTK allows reducing the time spent on cargo transportation by more than two times. The BTK railway facilitates access to European and world markets for Central Asian countries - Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan.

A total of 504 kilometers of the 846-kilometer BTK is in Azerbaijan, 263 kilometers in Georgia, and 79 km in Turkey. It is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo in the first stage, 17 million tons in the next step, and then a larger volume.