Representatives of Azerbaijani Railways, who participated in the 10th session of the State Commission on economic cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Japan, held a number of meetings with representatives of the Japanese business circles in the capital of Japan, Tokyo.
Deputy Chairman of “Azerbaijan Railways” CJSC Igbal Huseynov, as well as heads of “ADY Express” and “ADY Conteiner” LLC, held talks with more than 10 Japanese companies specializing in transport and logistics, as well as large cargo owners. Along with such large corporations as “JR-Freight Railway”, “HİS Corporation”, “Yusen Logistics”, “Nippon Freight Railway Co”, “Nissin Corporation”, “Toyo Trans Corporation”, “İTOCHİ Cooperation”, “JETRO” and others, representatives of Azerbaijani Railways held meaningful meetings in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan.
The main topics of the talks were the issues of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Japan in the field of transport, logistics and rail freight. After the commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and after “Azerbaijan Railways” CJSC became a full member of the international Association “Coordination Council for Trans-Siberian transportation”, cargo transportation from the Far East and Japan to Turkey, southern Europe and the Balkans, as well as the Mediterranean countries became more attractive.
Azerbaijani railway workers proposed a new route for cargo transportation in this direction-Japan-Russia-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Europe. Thus, it is proposed to carry cargo from Japan to Vladivostok by sea, then by rail along the TRANS-Siberian railway, then to Azerbaijan, Georgia and then by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to Turkey and Europe. Considering that, only last year, 30% of the volume of transported transit cargo on the Trans-Siberian railway fell on Japanese goods, and the speed of movement of freight trains on the highway is 1100 km per day and this figure will increase in the near future, the proposals of Azerbaijani railwaymen interested representatives of Japanese business circles, due to a number of advantages. Thus, the main advantage of the North-West transit corridor, created on the initiative of Azerbaijan, in comparison with other routes, is a short transit route and at least 2-3 times less time spent on transportation. Currently, the delivery of goods on the route Vladivostok-Baku-destination in Europe is from 21 days, while for transportation by sea through the Suez canal-about 45 days. And if we take into account that the annual turnover between Japan and Europe is more than 15 million tons, it is possible to attract part of this flow to the route passing through the territory of Azerbaijan. During the talks in Tokyo, cargo transportation, tariffs, transit time and other important issues were discussed and decisions were made on the continuation of relations in the near future. At the meetings, the sides exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.
