BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. Azerbaijan’s
location at the crossroads of Asia and Europe is further increasing
its importance along both the East-West and North-South transport
corridors, Trend’s
correspondent reports from the event.
Rovshan Rustamov, chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY),
made the remarks while speaking at an international conference
titled “The Role of Ports in Regional Connectivity and Strategic
Cooperation,” held as part of the Conference on Interaction and
Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
He noted that Azerbaijan’s railway connections make a particular
contribution to the development of these corridors and occupy a
distinctive place in Eurasia’s broader logistics chain.
“Our goal is to further increase the port’s handling capacity.
To this end, work is continuing on the second phase of the
development of the Port of Baku. In addition to the current annual
cargo handling capacity of 15 million tons, we plan to increase it
by another 10 million tons.
“We are also working intensively to expand container handling
capacity. As you know, the Port of Baku was originally designed to
handle 100,000 TEUs annually. Following the merger last year, we
increased this figure to 150,000 TEUs through greater operational
efficiency, and it will reach 200,000 TEUs by the end of this
year,” he added.
Rustamov also noted that the sector faces broader
challenges.
“The decline in water levels in the Caspian Sea is raising
serious concerns for shipping and access to ports. At the same
time, tensions and conflicts along international trade routes make
close coordination among ports even more important.
“That is precisely why holding a conference of port executives
under the CICA framework is important. At a time of growing
uncertainty, such meetings help build trust and turn our shared
concerns into practical action,” he said.
