Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey sign rail construction declaration

Kavkasia-Press news agency
29 Dec 04

TBILISI

Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a joint statement on the
construction of a Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway at the Georgian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs today. The statement was signed by
Georgian Economic Development Minister Aleksi Aleksishvili, Minister
of Transportation of Turkey Binali Yildirim and Deputy Minister of
Transport of Azerbaijan Musa Panahov.

Aleksi Aleksishvili said at a news briefing after the signing ceremony
that a foundation had been laid for the implementation of a historic
project of the century. “We have agreed that the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway project will be implemented at an
increased pace. A working group will be set up to work on specific
details of the project,” said he.

Aleksishvili also said that the estimated cost of the project was 350m
dollars, of which 200m dollars will have to be spent on the
construction of a railway link between Kars [Turkey] and Akhalkalaki
[Georgia] and 150m dollars on restoring the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi
section. The project will be financed by all three parties.

“The Turkish side will start working on the project for the
Kars-Akhalkalaki section in 2005. Thanks to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey have acquired extensive
and important experience in the implementation of joint projects,”
said Aleksishvili.

Binali Yildirim said that modern roads would be built along the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway, providing a direct link with Europe.