Azerbaijan see transit role to promote business for Turkic-speaking countries

Baku, Azerbaijan (PortSEurope) October 17, 2019 - Speaking at the 7th Turkic Council in Baku, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that his country was a reliable transit country continues its efforts to facilitate Turkic-speaking countries' access to world markets. Azerbaijan is a participant in both the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). “The transport cooperation among our countries, historically located on the ancient Silk Road, is one of the important directions, of course,” Ilham Aliyev said. “Azerbaijan is an active participant in the East-West transport corridor. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, commissioned in October 2017, is our joint contribution to the restoration of the historic Silk Road. The cargo handling capacity of the Baku International Sea Port is 15 million tons of cargo and 100,000 containers. If necessary, the cargo handling capacity of the port can be increased to 25 million tons and 1 million containers. Azerbaijan as a reliable transit country continues its efforts to facilitate the access of Turkic-speaking countries to world markets. In 2018, 8 million tons of cargo was transported from Turkic-speaking countries through Azerbaijan.” Energy and security issues are also areas where Azerbaijan believes it can play a role in developing Turkic speaking nations. However, a role in China's new Silk Road economic trade policy would raise the profile of the country and attract income from mainly China, but also Europe, as countries along multiple trade routes pass through the country's land (mainly rail) and maritime facilities. Rail routes are being developed to speed up delivery times of goods transported between Asia and Europe, but at this time only sea routes can handle the demand for volume transit. As a littoral state on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan's Baku port has shipping links with ports in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, attracting cargo and business from these countries and further afield. Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping, Azerbaijan Railways and Baku International Sea Trade Port are all founder members of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor, a potential trade route for Azerbaijan. TITR combines the countries participating in the new Silk Road project and important players of the region. Its members are leading maritime and transport companies from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, China and Turkey. The organisation aims to popularise the middle corridor, accelerate and simplify cargo transportation procedures between Asia and Europe, and make special preferential tariffs. Between East and West, in terms of cargo, the middle corridor helps to compete with the north-south routes. Azerbaijan is also a member of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) group. It is a multi modal transportation established by Iran, Russia and India for the purpose of promoting transportation cooperation among the Member States. This corridor connects India Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran, then is connected to St. Petersburg and North European via Russian Federation.The INSTC was expanded to include eleven new members, namely: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria (observer status). This represents another trade opportunity for Azerbaijan. Copyright (C) PortSEurope. All Rights Reserved. 2019.

Azerbaijan see transit role to promote business for Turkic-speaking countries

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Azerbaijan see transit role to promote business for Turkic-speaking countries

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