Azerbaijan has become 'one of the transport, logistics centers' of Eurasia: President

ISTANBUL

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday said that his country has become "one of the transport and logistics centers" of Eurasia, despite its lack of access to open seas.

Addressing an informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in the Hungarian capital Budapest, Aliyev said Baku’s cooperation with Turkic states in the field of transport is strengthening, noting that large investments have been made in Azerbaijan's transport infrastructure in recent years.

“As a result, despite the lack of access to the open seas, Azerbaijan has become one of the transport and logistics centers of Eurasia,” Aliyev said, noting that the volume of transit shipments from Türkiye and Central Asian countries through his country last year amounted to 11 million tons.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan has invested more than $20 billion in the organization's member countries in total, and that they have created new formats of cooperation with neighboring countries, as well as established joint ventures.

“The carrying capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is part of the Middle Corridor, was increased to five million tons last year at the expense of Azerbaijani funds,” Aliyev further said.

He also said Baku attaches “great importance” to the digitalization of the Middle Corridor, indicating that work is currently underway on a project to create a single digital platform to simplify transport operations and trade between ports in the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan provides important transit services for the Turkic states through the more than 50 merchant ships it possesses in the Caspian Sea, Aliyev said and added that 10 new ships are being built in the country’s capital.

“The cargo handling capacity of the Alat International Sea Trade Port will increase from 15 million tons to 25 million tons,” he added.

The Azerbaijani president also commented on last year's UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in Baku in November, saying his country succeeded in "building a bridge between the Global South and the Global North" at the event.