The Turkish Foreign Ministry said construction of the regional railway project linking Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia will be launched this June, the Turkish English-language dailies Today’s Zaman and Turkish Daily News reported on January 31.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Saakashvili will sign an agreement on the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway link in Tbilisi on February 7.
The project will give new impetus to regional cooperation, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
Chief of the Georgian state-run Railway Company Irakli Ezugbaia is now visiting Turkey to hold talks about details of the project.
Azerbaijan has already pledged to loan USD 200 million to Georgia to finance construction of its portion of a railway. Georgia will have to repay the loan with 1% annual interest within 25 years.
A 29 kilometer section of railway will be constructed on Georgian territory from Akhalkalaki to the Turkish border, and a 192 kilometer portion of already existing railway infrastructure will be rehabilitated in the frames of the project.
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