The Russian-Turkish crisis will increase the transit through Azerbaijan by 3-4 times, expert

Russian sanctions against Turkey, of course, will  affect the region, but the biggest damage  will be caused to Turkey's economy, and then Russia, said the national secretary of TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission on Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev in an interview with the radio "Voice of America" ​​and Turan.   Turkey and Russia have a very wide economic and trade ties. Most of them are associated with the transport, including transit. Over the past few days on the Russian border has accumulated fifteen hundred heavy vehicles (TIR) ​​of food, including vegetables and fruits.  The food is intended not only for Russia. The cargo goes via Russia to the countries of Central and Middle Asia. Among these one  and half thousand cars, in addition to Turkish, there are Moldovan, and Romanian, and Bulgarian and Kazakhstan, but they all  come from Turkey.  The two countries are trying to  find  ways out of the situation - Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are trying to alleviate the situation and to stabilize it.

Thus, Azerbaijan is considering the possibility of transit through  its territory the Turkish trucks which are standing  now on the border with Russia and Georgia. For this reason, Azerbaijan lowered freight rates by 20%. In particular, it concerns the duty of the International seaport. In this way, in Kazakhstan and other Asian countries will be transported several hundred machines.  Being asked whether the TRACECA program to help increase the transportation, Akif Mustafayev said that  through Russia annually  passed the 200,000 Turkish trucks, mainly through the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.  Visa was cancelled for Turkish carriers, and the duty was low. Now, all this is canceled, and since January 1, 2016 Russia is preparing to impose  unilaterally visa regime. In this case, the only option for Turkey is the transport corridor TRACECA. There is another way - through Iran. However, given the strained relations with Tehran,  the  way through Azerbaijan is  the most convenient.  In addition to the Russian direction,  approximately  30,000 Turkish trucks were arriving each year  in Azerbaijan.

The introduction of Russian sanctions have created problems for Azerbaijan. However, increasing the flow of freight is a positive factor for Azerbaijan. Even before the emergence of tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan, a few months ago, President Ilham Aliyev signed a number of decrees to enhance freight by rail. There was even created the Coordination Council under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, which reviews issues of tariffs, simplify customs procedures and so forth.  If the entire cargo will go through Azerbaijan, the transit volume will increase by  3-4 times. Accordingly,  profit will increase. So earlier this profit was 300 million US dollars, now it will increase by  many times.

According to Mustafayev, Azerbaijan's road infrastructure is able to withstand such loads, and custom offices are ready to it. In addition, the government issued a decree on the accelerated passage of transit traffic.  At the same time, most part is the railway transportation. In this regard, an important role will play the  construction of the railway branch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, which is scheduled to be ready  in 2016.  In the coming years, will be put into operation  the Baku international sea port in Alat. -03D04-