BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 28. This week, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia railways created a joint venture, Trend reports.
Within the framework of the Silk Road Forum held in Tbilisi, an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture on a parity basis was signed by Azerbaijan Railways, Kazakhstan Railways and Georgian Railways. The railways of the three countries have joined their efforts to develop multimodal transportation on the Trans-Caspian international transport route. The new enterprise "Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd." will be established on the basis of "International Financial Center Astana".
Speaking at the Silk Road Forum, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan noted the great importance of the Middle Corridor and Georgia's role in it.
"The US and its companies are here to continue to support and participate in this development. As an ambassador, I fully endorse the Middle Corridor. I believe that the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum is crucial for uniting the private and public sectors of the 'Middle Corridor' countries to support the development of this significant transit route. This cannot be achieved without collaboration between the private and public sectors," the ambassador said.
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Azerbaijan Railways signed an agreement with Stadler on establishment of Regional Service Center. The agreement implies the provision of repair and maintenance services for all types of Stadler vehicles. At the same time, the center will provide support and advice to ADY employees in terms of improving their knowledge and skills related to the repair of all types of locomotives. For these purposes, a Regional Service Center will be built on the territory of Boyukshor, the construction of which will be invested by Stadler.
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Construction of a road connecting 12 settlements in Azerbaijan's Aghsu is underway. The 26.4 kilometer long dirt road was in an unusable condition due to natural factors. For this reason, the road, which was in need of thorough reconstruction, has been improved according to the fourth technical category. The road width has been increased to 10 meters, asphalt paving has been completed on a 17-kilometer section of the road, and construction of the road base on a 9.4-kilometer section of the road is in its final stage.
Besides, restoration of the wall destroyed in the accident on Heydar Aliyev Avenue has been started. In addition, extra security measures have been taken.
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Passenger traffic of Heydar Aliyev International Airport has been steadily increasing since the beginning of 2023. Thus, the total passenger traffic of the airport increased by 25 percent and reached more than 4.3 million people from January through September 2023. This figure amounted to 3.2 million passengers year-on-year.
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Branch Manager of AsstrA in Azerbaijan, Emin Isaev said that AsstrA Company will actively offer transit routes through Azerbaijan.
"AsstrA intends to contribute to achieving this goal. Our customers are interested in optimal routes for the delivery of goods between the countries of Europe and Central, South, and Southeast Asia, respectively. With a representative office in the country and reliable partners among local carriers, we will actively offer transit routes through Azerbaijan," Isayev said.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the first meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on Caspian Cooperation that the North-South international transport corridor is an important project that is under priority control of the Russian leadership.
"The project's implementation necessitates close collaboration with the Caspian region governments and the alignment of interests. Only five member countries have exclusive competence in resolving concerns relating to this unique water environment, according to the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. Interaction with littoral states becomes an especially essential feature of work in this regard," he emphasized.
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Azerbaijan and Russia are currently working on consolidation of cargo base to improve the transportation and logistics infrastructure within the framework of the Agroexpress project.
According to Alevtina Kirillova, Director General of the Autonomous Non-profit Organization on Assistance in the Development of Agro-industrial Activities "Eurasian Agrologistics", Doctor of Technical Sciences, negotiations are underway in this direction with ADY Express, as well as with Alliance Logistics to form a cargo base that will also deal with perishable products that require temperature control, dry products (nuts, dried fruits, grain legumes), as well as consumer goods to launch the train in regular mode.
