Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 24 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The 'Silk Wind' project as part of the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) will enable attracting additional cargo to the Azerbaijani part of the corridor and increasing the foreign trade volume in the region, a draft of the Azerbaijani state budget submitted to Parliament, said today.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey signed a memorandum on a 'Silk Wind' transport project in November 2012 which is an initiative within the TRACECA programme.
According to the draft, this will be possible due to most of the international transit goods from China, South-East Asia, the Pacific region and the opposite direction.
According to the project, the regular multi-modal block train will cover a 4192 kilometre distance over 12 days.
The implementation of major infrastructure projects such as the construction of the Baku international sea port, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Zhezkazgan Beineu railway in Kazakhstan and Marmaray underwater railway tunnel in Turkey, as well as the conclusion of an intergovernmental agreement between the countries which signed the memorandum will play an important role in the implementation of 'Silk Wind' project, a draft said.
The purpose of the 'Silk Wind' project is to create a multimodal train route (container/RO RO) with a primary information exchange system between customs services and railway operators of the project's partners. Countries participating in the project plan to introduce a single tariff on cargo transportation.
TRACECA is the international programme of cooperation in the sphere of transport between the EU and partner-countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The organisation has a permanent secretariat in Baku.
TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Iran.
