Turkey and Georgia discuss plan for bilateral collaboration

Turkish and Georgian Presidents Abdullah Gul and Mikheil Saakashvili met at the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City and discussed further steps towards strengthening their cooperation, Trend reports.

Both sides emphasized the role of oil and gas pipelines and the BTK Railway in the economic and political progress of the region.

Saakashvili’s presidency ends in October. Gul thanked him for efforts to strengthen ties with Turkey and reminded about agreements signed in the fields of free trade, visa-free regime and encouraged maintenance of the relations achieved.

A new 105-km branch will be built within the framework of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. Georgia will reconstruct the Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway section to increase its traffic to 15 million tons of cargo a year. A facility to switch trains from the Georgian railways to the European ones will be built in Akhalkalaki. The railway project will allow 30 million tons of cargo to be transported to Europe every year. Completion of the Marmaray tunnel under the Bosphorus Strait will connect the BTK Railway with Europe.

Adapted from Vestnik Kavkaza