Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kazakhstan ink document on transport co-op

Source: AzerNews

The transport ministries of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kazakhstan have signed a protocol on cooperation in transport development in the Turkic-speaking states. The signing ceremony was held on July 3 in the Azerbaijani capital Baku within a meeting of the transport ministers of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States.

The protocol was signed by Azerbaijan's Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov, Turkey's Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim and Kazakhstan's Minister of Transport and Communications Askar Zhumagaliev.

Moreover, the parties signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of relations between the ports of Baku, Aktau in Kazakhstan and Turkey's Samsun.

During the signing ceremony Minister Yildirim said the memorandum signed between the ports will contribute to the coordination of activities between them.

According to the Azerbaijani Transport Minister, the ports have great importance for the development of maritime transport, therefore, their development and cooperation is very significant.

In particular, it is planned to commission the first phase of a new international sea port in the Alat settlement in the Garadagh district of Baku in June 2014, Mammadov said.

The creation of the new port will positively affect the development of the volume of cargo transportation and allow accelerating the process of their treatment, he said.

The new seaport is under construction in the Alat settlement. The construction work is being carried out by the Complex Construction Directorate under the Transport Ministry. Under the project, Dutch contractor Van Oord will carry out work in the maritime part of the new port and local company Azerkorpu is to conduct preparations for the main operations on its overland part.

The construction operations, which started in November 2010, are carried out in three stages. The first phase of the project involves construction of two ferries, three cargo berths for receiving containers and conventional bulk carriers. The second phase of the project envisions the construction of three additional cargo berths and the third one -- the construction of two more cargo berths.

The port will be capable of handling up to 10 million tons of cargo during the first stage. In the second stage, the capacity will reach 17 million tons; during the last stage, the port will ensure handling of 25 million tons of consignments.

A free economic zone will be created in the territory of the port in the future in addition to a logistics center. The construction work will cost the Azerbaijani government over $1.1 billion.
Currently, the shipment capacity of the old Baku Port is 5-10 million tons of loads per year. Transportation of cargo from the port takes a long time due to the location of the port in the center of Baku and busy traffic in the capital city. The construction of the new international sea trade port will allow to significantly increase the flow of goods and the volume of transit cargo.