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Trend News Agency (17 October 2018)

Turkmenistan’s joining the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway launched in 2017 will give impetus to the further development of trade and economic relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Hajibala Abutalibov said.

Abutalibov made the remarks at a solemn event dedicated to the 27th anniversary of independence of Turkmenistan, organized by the country's embassy in Baku.

He congratulated the Turkmen side on a significant date, stressing that the peoples of the two countries have common roots and history.

Abutalibov also stressed that he himself was born in Krasnovodsk city (now Turkmenbashi) in Turkmenistan.

He emphasized that Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev, who repeatedly made official visits to Turkmenistan, attached great importance to the relations between the two countries.

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s policy is also aimed at strengthening ties with Turkmenistan, as a result of which it was possible to implement large-scale projects, such as Turkmenistan’s further joining the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, as well as the implementation of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project,” Abutalibov said.

In conclusion, he once again stressed that fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are unbreakable.

The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku Oct. 30 last year. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.

The railway’s peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

In May 2015, the Ashgabat Declaration on Energy was signed by the ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vice President of the European Commission in Charge of the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

The project for laying a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan, as previously noted by the parties concerned, is optimal for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. Further, the Turkmen gas can get in Turkey, which borders European countries.

The Trans-Caspian pipeline could become a part of several large-scale projects, including AGRI and TANAP, to which Azerbaijan and Turkey are parties.

https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/2967076.html