Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

A meeting of the general assembly of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) association was held in Ankara on February 16 under the chairmanship of the head of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Kanat Alpysbaev, according to the press service of the Kazakh national company.

Representatives of the countries-participants of TITR - Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and associate members of this international association - discussed issues of further development of the international corridor, organization of uninterrupted cargo transportation and creation of favorable tariff conditions along the route.

The parties agreed on the volume of traffic at the level of 4 million tonnes of cargo, including container traffic in the amount of 15,000 TEUs (or 75,000 tonnes) for 2018 along TITR.

Alpysbaev noted the need to intensify measures to load and attract cargo flows to the infrastructure created by the TITR member countries.

“Along with the growing cargo traffic of multimodal transportations by TITR, it is necessary to monitor and identify potentially bottlenecks with the purpose of advance modernization and expansion of the existing infrastructure,” he said.

Alpysbaev noted the importance of the initiative of Turkish State Railways JSC on joining the TITR association.

The head of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC expressed confidence in the success of cooperation of the countries-participants on the joint development of new logistics services, the formation of competitive tariff rates.

The tariff rates of TITR for 2018 were approved at the meeting, taking into account the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line.

The issues of increasing cargo flows on TITR were also in the focus of attention during the round table with the participation of representatives of large cargo owners, traders, transport and logistics companies, business structures.

In Ankara, Alpysbaev also held a meeting with Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications of the Republic of Turkey Ahmed Arslan.

During the talks, issues of development of cooperation in the field of transport and logistics were discussed. In particular, the prospects for the development of the “Middle Corridor”, joint activities for the effective use of the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route were in the focus of attention.

The agreement on creation of the TITR was signed in April 2016 in Baku by the railway authorities of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

TITR is a project initiated to improve transit potential and development of the countries of the Caspian region. This route runs from China through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further to Europe.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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