The volume of freight traffic on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway will be increased from 2,500 tons to 6,000 tons per day if there is demand, Turkish Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekjan said at a press conference with the media on March 27.
The Trade Minister briefed on developed schemes for contactless export and contactless foreign trade, and drew attention to the use of mainly rail freight transport, taking into account the current situation in the world.
Minister Pekjan also said the government increased the capacity of Turgozu, Chyldy-Aktash and Sarp customs checkpoints between Turkey and Georgia and transferred them to round-the-clock operation mode.
Turkey based Bloomberg HT agency reported on March 23 that due to the situation related to COVID-19, the country is working on increasing the number of freight trains on the BTK railway from one to seven as an additional solution.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway corridor was commissioned in 2017. The 826-kilometer railway connects Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
In its temporary regulation on cargo transportation, Turkmenistan also recommends to transport cargos by containers and rail wagons by sea and land in order to effectively use international multimodal corridors passing through its territory.
Turkmenistan actively supports the development of the Lapis Lazuli international transport and transit corridor, passing through the territory of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
