Azerbaijan to become a kind of a railway bridge between Europe and Asia

Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Asgarov, the commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will turn Azerbaijan into a bridge between Europe and Asia. To what extent does Azerbaijan Railways CJSC manage to successfully implement projects of international importance? 

Arif Asgarov, Chairman, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC: Azerbaijan’s favorable geographic position allows us in the future to further expand our transit opportunities. East-West and North-South corridors cross the territory of Azerbaijan. A modern logistic and transport infrastructure should be developed for the implementation of the transit potential. The process of modernization of the transport infrastructure has been running quite intensively for last 5 years. Azerbaijan is an active participant of international and regional transportation corridors such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and North-South. 

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is being implemented by the initiative of Azerbaijan together with neighbor countries. This project is of historical significance. Azerbaijan is to be linked to Europe by the railroad for the first time. The country will become a kind of a railway bridge between Europe and Asia. We assume that once this project is completed, at least 10 mln tons of cargoes will be transported through our country’s territory. In future this indicator may rise up to 20 mln tonnes of cargoes. 

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway which is to be opened in the coming year is a historical event for Azerbaijan and the entire region.  In this way, a new rail Silk Road will be revived. Implementation of this project will provide an additional benefit. Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, increase of the trade turnover, transportation of additional and available cargoes along this road will increase our economic interests and in the meantime enrich our work with concrete measures. The railroad enables to conduct successful energy cooperation as well. Nowadays Azerbaijan is transporting oil products, oil from the eastern coast of the Caspian in the Western direction, i.e. it plays a transit role. This role will be much bigger after the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.