BAKU: The transportation from Asia to Europe holds a very important place in the world trade turnover and Baku can become a key link in this transportation, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (United Arab Emirates) said.
He made the remarks during the meeting with the head of Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee Aydin Aliyev.
“We carry out cargo transportation via railway from China to Europe though Kazakhstan and Russia,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.
“The sea route from China to Rotterdam (the Netherlands) takes 42 days,” he said, adding that this is while the cargo from China is delivered to Rotterdam for about 20 days via the railway.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said he believes that Baku is the missing part of the puzzle in transportation to Europe.
He noted that the cargo from Baku to Europe can be delivered quicker via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway.
BTK will allow to directly deliver cargo to Europe bypassing the Batumi port, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said and emphasized the importance of Baku as a key transport hub.
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. It is expected to be commissioned by late 2015.
Furthermore, he pointed out the successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and UAE in the spheres of cargo and passenger transportation.
“Our countries have long-term partnership relations. Azerbaijan’s economic success makes us very glad and we are very interested in close cooperation with this country,” he said, “We would like Azerbaijan to participate in our projects as well.”
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and UAE stood at $36.13 million in Jan.-July 2015 and $33.23 million of this amount accounted for the import from Azerbaijan, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.
