Turkey Ready to Invest USD 200 mln in Railway with Georgia

Georgian Economy Minister Lexo Alexishvili told reporters on December 29, that USD 200 million is needed to construct a railway link between the eastern Turkish city of Kars and southern Georgian town of Akhalkalaki.

?The Turkish side has already pledged funds for this project. Some [additional] USD 160 million will be needed for rehabilitation of the Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki railway link and we should work with the international financial institutions to allocate funds for this [rehabilitation project],? Lexo Alexishvili said after talks with the Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim.

Azerbaijan is also interested with the project, as it will enable Baku to gain railway access to its strategic partner Turkey via Georgia.

The Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish sides signed a joint protocol over implementation of the project on December 29.

Construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi rail link has been discussed earlier, but the project was suspended for the past 8 years.