MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Development of the transport corridor of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey and the increase in competitiveness was the main topic of the tripartite meeting held today in Tbilisi with the participation of the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Minister of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey.

As the participants of the meeting noted, the importance of the transit transport corridor connecting Asia and Europe and the question of its development is increasing in the background of recent political and economic events, it is becoming one of the most attractive routes connecting the East and the West.

“Cooperation between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the transit, transport and logistics direction is very important. Specific decisions were made at the meeting, which will certainly contribute to the competitiveness of the corridor in the medium and long term. We have discussed the current, specific problems and solutions have been drawn up in order to speed up cargo turnover, which will allow us to transport even more cargo using the infrastructure of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, and finally, to create a real alternative to the existing transit and transport routes,” – Georgian Vice Prime Minister, Levan Davitashvili stated.

Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailoğlu spoke about the importance of the tripartite meeting. According to him, the more transport corridors connecting our countries, the stronger the friendly relations between the three countries are. As Adil Karaismailoğlu noted, so-called Middle Corridor as well as the continuous transport corridor from China to London is very important for the whole world. 

“It became possible due to existing projects, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the Marmaray crossing tunnel in Istanbul, and through these projects it will be possible for cargo from China to reach London in a non-peak mode. This is a very important project for both, the region and the whole world, the trade volume of 800 billion should be utilized, not lost or redistributed to other transport corridors. Therefore, this corridor is very important. It should be noted that we are talking about cargo transportation, but it is important that in the future along with cargo transportation, passenger transportation will also be available,” – the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey commented.

Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan, Rashad Nabiyev, spoke about the increased international interest in the Middle Corridor.

“Our countries – Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia, are important parts of this corridor. Today we gathered to discuss one of the important projects within this corridor – Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line. Our goal is to increase the efficiency of the corridor by revising such issues as regulating tariffs, combining block carriers, and synchronizing regulations and activities along the borders,” – Rashad Nabiyev said.

The Ministers discussed the current situation, prospects and directions for further development, and made decisions involving the increase of railway transportation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and the timely completion of the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars new railway project.