Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey to create transport corridor

Baku, November 17, AZERTAC Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have signed an agreement on the creation of the Lapis Lazuli transport corridor connecting the five countries. The document was signed on the sidelines of the 7th Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA VII) in Ashgabat, AZERTAC reports. The railways and motorways will reportedly connect the city of Torgundi in the Afghan province of Herat with Ashgabat, then with the port of Turkmenbashi on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Further, the corridor will pass through the Caspian Sea to Baku, then through Tbilisi to Ankara with branches to Poti and Batumi, and further from Ankara to Istanbul. The budget of the project is estimated at $2 billion. Consultations on the creation of the transport corridor began in 2012. The main goals of the project are to boost economic integration of the region and the volume of trade.