Presidents Of Turkey, Azerbaijan And Georgia Lay Foundation Of Baku- Tbilisi- Kars Railway

KARS - Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday laid the foundation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway`s (BTK) part on Turkish soil.
The three presidents and Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim delivered speeches at the ceremony held in the eastern province of Kars.
The foundation of Georgia section of the railway called the Iron Silk Road was laid in a region outside capital Tbilisi on November 21st, 2007 with participation of Gul, Aliyev and Saakashvili.
The Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway, or Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway, is a regional rail link project to directly connect Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The project is due to be completed by 2011.
The project will enable uninterrupted railway link with the Central Asian republics, which are the new oil and natural gas center in the world. Thus, a train that will set off from London can reach China without any interruption.
(AY-MS)