Turkic Council Secretary General Ambassador Ramil Hasanov attended the opening ceremony of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway held on 30 October 2017 in the port of Baku at Alat.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, Ministers of Transport of the regional countries, members of cabinet of the Republic of Azerbaijan, transport and customs authorities of the countries included in the said railway network and diplomatic corps accredited in Azerbaijan participated in the launch of the first official railway service that will establish a continuous railway link between Asia and Europe.
In the scope of the Iron Silk Road, the launch of the BTK will allow a train that departs from London go uninterruptedly to all the way to Beijing. The line will initially have a capacity of 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. In the following years, it is projected that 3 million passengers and 17 million tons of cargo will be transported via the railway. Establishing a continuous railway link between the Turkic Speaking States, the line will add a new page to the transportation and logistics infrastructures of a wide geographical area that include the countries of the region as well as contribute to the economic growth and enhance employment of the countries on the railway network.
The BTK line, which gained a greater importance in the context of China`s giant infrastructure, logistics and transportation project “One Belt One Road” Initiative, will reduce the 45-day travel time of maritime transport to 12-15 days. By completing the north and south transport corridors in the east-west transportation network, the line will also become the main pillar of the Trans-Caspian Transportation Corridor.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan İlham Aliyev in his opening speech noted that BTK is the shortest route between Europe and China and that the line will increase economic activity among the countries of the region contributing to the transit potential of the regional countries. Emphasizing that the line will stimulate human mobility and will bring tourism revenues to the region, President Aliyev also stated that the BKT will strengthen the brotherly bonds of the Turkic States. It is predicted that important contributions will be made to the peace and stability of the region as well.
President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the launch of the BTK marked the completion of the most important leg of the Middle Corridor becoming an important part of the Chinese New Silk Road Initiative. President Erdoğan also emphasized that BTK linked all Central Asian Turkic Republics to Europe.
Turkic Council Secretary General Hasanov had bilateral contacts with a number of ministers and mission chiefs within the framework of the opening program and informed his counterparts of the work being conducted by the Turkic Council.
After the opening ceremony, Secretary General Hasanov participated in the official dinner given by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in honor of the guests.
Project Director Ali Çiviler accompanied Secretary General Hasanov during the opening ceremony and the dinner.
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