ECONOMY
‘Currently 83 percent of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project`s Turkish section completed’
“Currently 83 percent of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project`s Turkish section, which involves construction of a 79-kilometer railway with a budget of $700 million, has been completed,” said Turkish Minister of Transportation, Maritime and Communication Lutfi Elvan at a conference titled “Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line - new opportunities for the development of the historical Great Silk Road” in Azerbaijan's capital.
“This will be an important line for the modern Silk Road. Connecting Central Asia to Turkey over the Caspian Sea and from here to Europe through the Marmaray project will ensure that there is easier, safer and quicker transportation between Central Asia and Europe. The transportation infrastructure of the countries in the region will also be linked together. The Central Asian countries will have fast transportation links between themselves with the implementation of this project. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, which is an important and supplementary part of the East-West transportation corridor, will unite Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and also will ensure that the Aktau Port in Kazakhstan and Turkmenbashi Port in Turkmenistan gain more strategic value in the corridor. China will be connected to Europe over the Caspian Sea region, Central Asia and Turkey. This will ensure economic progress and development, and also cultural relations between the countries will improve," said Elvan.