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Azerbaijani President: "We are currently in the process of rebuilding our railway in the North-South direction"

05 June 2020 01:20 (UTC +04:00)

"As you correctly noted, our relations with the Davos World Economic Forum today have entered a new stage. In January, Mr Berge Brenda and I signed a document in Davos on the creation of a regional hub of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Azerbaijan. I believe that this is an example of a high appreciation of our efforts towards industrial development. We are ready to cooperate with you in the development of a strong platform not only for Azerbaijan but also for the region, so that the existing infrastructure, communications and geographical location of Azerbaijan can be used to create great opportunities," said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in a videoconference held on the initiative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the bank’s President Masatsugu Asakawa, Vice-President Shixin Chen and other executives of the ADB on June 1, APA reports.

"Another issue I would like to raise is that we already worked together on a railway project. However, we are currently in the process of rebuilding our railway in the North-South direction. Azerbaijan has already invested heavily in this corridor, which has great potential. We are already receiving goods coming from the north, from Russia, and transported through the territory of Azerbaijan in the western and southern directions. However, the quality of our railway from the border with Iran to the border with Russia is not very good. Therefore, in order to increase the speed of train traffic, we have already invested some funds and plan to implement this, as it may happen that our existing infrastructure will not be sufficient to handle all the cargo. Today, traffic jams are already observed on our border with Russia, because growing exports from Azerbaijan and Iran no longer allows them to be transported by trucks. Therefore, we need a modern railway system which will become part of the North-South corridor. I would like to ask you to consider this project. In the course of further contacts, you may be provided with more detailed information about the work done and our plans," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.