TO EUROPE ON SLEEPERS

The commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will revive the historic Silk Road, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said at the ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of the Georgian sector of this project.

"This is a huge project which will link China to London, because the locomotives that will leave China will be able to reach Istanbul and then move on to Europe through the Caspian region, Baku and Tbilisi," the Turkish president said.

Abdullah Gul also thanked Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev for his "important contribution" to this project. "Kazakhstan promised to transport 10 million tons of cargo per year by this route," he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also said that the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is of special importance not just to the region, but also to the whole world. "I am sure that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project will be as successful as previous projects, for example, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum. Some organizations doubted these projects previously. Now these projects are playing an important role in ensuring Europe's energy security."

The head of state stressed that despite unproductive and lengthy negotiations with a number of international financial organizations on the implementation of the BTK project, the states involved in the project demonstrated firm political will and secured its implementation.

The president said that BTK is not directed against the interests of any other state. "Our projects are aimed at improving the people's welfare. Time will come when the organizations that doubted these projects will be interested in joining them." Aliyev said that the implementation of the project will ensure transport security in the region.

In turn, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that after the railway link with Russia through Abkhazia was blocked, Georgia was isolated from the main railways. "However, now Georgia is getting out of the deadlock. We will get a more modern and faster road to Europe. This is a tremendous project," the Georgian president said.

He also said that the railway will help the Samtskhe-Javakheti region overcome its economic isolation and "will become not just one of the main transit points, but also a centre of economic activity".

This project implies that "most of the cargo going from China by the trans-Siberian line will pass through Georgia. This is a very big geopolitical revolution."

"I think that the construction of the railway will be completed earlier than planned. During my second term in office, much earlier than this term expires, I plan to open this railway and become the first passenger of the Baku-Tbilisi-Istanbul express which will pass the Bosporus and will move on to the rest of Europe," Saakashvili said.