Azerbaijan, Baku, July 15 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
Azerbaijan is ready to sign an intergovernmental agreement on "Silk Wind" project within the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA), TRACECA National Secretary on Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev told Trend today.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey signed a memorandum on "Silk Wind" transportation project in November 2012, which is an initiative within the TRACECA program.
According to Mustafayev, this project implementation envisages improvement of transit conditions, as well as commissioning a container block-train from China to the center of Western Europe. The matter rests in the coverage of container and passenger transportation.
As for coordinating the process of signing the intergovernmental agreement, Mustafayev stressed that Kazakhstan, which is the initiator of the project implementation, is ready to sign the document. This issue was agreed with all bodies in Azerbaijan. The issue is being coordinated in Turkey and Georgia, that is, the agreement is expected to be approved by relevant ministries and agencies.
Accordingly, the intergovernmental agreement will be signed only after the coordination process is coordinated in all countries participating in the project. Thus, the intergovernmental agreement can be signed this year or later.
The involvement of container cargo from China to the TRACECA corridor, as well as their transportation via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will not affect the oil transshipment volume from Georgian ports of Batumi and Poti, Mustafayev added.
"The transportation of container cargo and passengers is currently envisaged, which will not affect the traditional transportation (oil and oil products, general cargo and others) through the Black Sea," Mustafayev said.
The purpose of the "Silk Wind" project is to create a multimodal train route (container/RO RO) with the primary information exchange system between customs services and railway operators of the project participants. The countries participating in the project plan to introduce a single tariff on cargo transportation.
TRACECA is the international program of cooperation in the sphere of transport between the EU and the partner-countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The organization has a permanent secretariat in Baku.
TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Iran.
