Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) Chairman of the New Approaches in Logistics and New Trade Routes Committee Ahmet Yayman, MÜSİAD Azerbaijan Baku President Abdurrahman Uzun and MÜSİAD Georgia Tbilisi President Mustafa Özgür Yücel shared their assessments on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line project

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line, which was inaugurated in October 2017 with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikaşvili, and which is known to the public as the Iron Silk Road, will carry out its first export with the service to be operated today.

With the BTK railway line, the acceleration of freight transport between Türkiye and the countries of the region and an increase in trade potential will be ensured.

“It Will Provide a Great Advantage to Our Exporters”

Sharing his assessments about the project, MÜSİAD Chairman of the New Approaches in Logistics and New Trade Routes Committee Ahmet Yayman stated that the BTK railway line would make a great contribution to the increase of Türkiye's trade volume on an international scale.

Noting that the railway line would revitalize trade in the region, Yayman said, “With the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, our exporters in Anatolia will be able to send their goods to Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Turkic Republics and China faster and under more economical conditions over this line. In addition, with the project, the transit times that are extended in the winter months will be resolved and the railway line will provide an advantage to our exporters.”

Noting that transport fees would fall with the BTK line and that this situation would lead to the diversification of the goods our exporters will sell, Yayman said, “ The project will lead to an increase in tonnage in transport and will provide optimum benefit to our country with manageable transit times. In addition, since the wagons that go out full in Türkiye will also come back full on their return, a balance will be established in freight prices.”

“The Free Trade Agreement Will Increase the Efficiency of the Project”

Speaking on the subject, MÜSİAD Azerbaijan Baku President Abdurrahman Uzun emphasized that a period had been entered in which the benefit the project would provide to the economies of the 3 countries would be clearly seen. Uzun made the following assessment: “ This railway will be of serious benefit to Azerbaijan-Türkiye trade. However, what is more important than this is that the free trade agreement between the two countries, which we have been awaiting impatiently for years, comes into force as soon as possible. Since 2014, the export figure of Türkiye to Azerbaijan has decreased at a rate of %65. In this period, Turkish goods are in a seriously disadvantageous position against the goods coming from the CIS countries. The disappearance of this situation, which is against Türkiye, as soon as possible is of importance for both countries. The agreement will enable the Azerbaijani consumer to consume higher quality products more cheaply. In order for the commercial targets between Türkiye and Azerbaijan to be reached, the entry into force of this agreement as soon as possible will also increase the efficiency of the BTK railway line project many times over.”

“The Project Will Help Double the Trade Volume”

MÜSİAD Georgia Tbilisi President Mustafa Özgür Yücel, for his part, touched upon the fact that this investment made between two friendly and brotherly countries would carry the existing trade to better points. Stating that there is currently a trade volume of over USD 1.5 billion between Türkiye and Georgia, Yücel assessed that the BTK railway line project would help the realization of the target set by President Erdoğan as “The trade volume should be USD 3 billion”.