Georgian and Azeri Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili and Ilham Aliev, as well as Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an agreement on Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway construction in Tbilisi February 7. The total cost of the project is $600 million. The Azeri side will assign Georgia $300 million on credit for rehabilitation and construction works of Georgian part of the railway. The maturity date of the credit is 25 years with possibility of prolongation, crediting rate is 1% annually.
The Georgian government hopes such an important infrastructure project like BTK will turn the country into a “bridge between Europe and Asia”. Construction works will launch already this year. The agreement on BTK has raised serious concerns and in Yerevan, since the railway will bypass Armenia, Russian Media reports.
The American Congress has banned American banks to finance construction of this project, if it bypasses Armenia. Inflexibility of Washington’s stance in this issue recently also confirmed U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza , who is considered to be Georgia’s “friend and lobbyist”. Particularly he said that if Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey want to construct a railway bypassing Armenia the United States cannot hinder them but will not assist them too.
