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Speech by President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting focused on transportation issues:
At today’s meeting, we will discuss the development of transport infrastructure in Baku and its suburban areas. There is a need for this. Although a lot of work was done in this direction and major infrastructure projects were implemented in recent years, there are still traffic jams in Baku, and unfortunately, the number of traffic jams is increasing year after year. There are natural reasons for this. The population of our country, including Baku, is growing every year. Over the past 30 years, the population of Azerbaijan has increased from 7 million to 10 million, even above that. Of course, the city’s road infrastructure, including the metro, cannot absorb this growth.
We have always kept transport issues in the spotlight, and many large projects have been implemented in Baku over the past 15 years, new metro stations have been put into operation, road junctions, tunnels, bridges have been built, new roads have been laid. If we had not done this work, transport in Baku would be completely paralyzed today. But we still see that there will be great benefit in adopting another major program. For this purpose, I gave the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport relevant instructions some time ago to prepare a state program, and work on this program has been carried out for several months. Today we will discuss these issues and make the necessary decisions.
As for transport issues, I must say that a number of transport projects have been implemented throughout the country in recent years: rural roads, intercity roads, highways. As the years go by, the previous situation tends to be forgotten. However, if we look back 20 years, we will remember the state of our roads at that time. Even the main roads of Baku hardly met any standards. We built new roads and connected almost all cities with modern roads. We connected all our borders with modern highways. The rate of repair and construction of rural roads has reached around 85-90 percent, and every year, we allocate funds for these purposes.
At the same time, the geographical location of Azerbaijan is such that international transport corridors pass through our territory, and this is because we have been able to effectively use this geographical location. But geographical location alone does not mean that any country can become a transport hub. However, we have consistently shown interest in the passage of international transport corridors through Azerbaijan, through our territory, made efforts, and carried out practical work.
Today, it is impossible to imagine the transport map of Eurasia without Azerbaijan, without its transport infrastructure. Currently, the East-West and North-South transport corridors pass through our territory. The volume of cargo transported along these corridors is increasing by the year. In addition to physical infrastructure, other steps have been taken to ensure more efficient transportation of cargo, including attention paid to issues of digitalization. New formats of cooperation with neighboring countries have been created and joint ventures, joint companies have been established. In short, Azerbaijan today is one of the indispensable transport centers of Eurasia.
I should also note that countries that usually have the status of transport centers are those that have access to open seas. We do not have access to the world ocean. However, despite this, as a result of the work we have done, we have turned Azerbaijan into an indispensable transport center. Work continues, and additional measures are now taken on both the North-South and East-West transport corridors. Because the volume of cargo previously calculated suggests that a larger volume of cargo will pass. This is an issue related to various reasons. But the fact is that we have now attracted and will continue to attract additional investment to increase the carrying capacity of these corridors.
Among the new projects, I would like to mention the Zangezur corridor. The Zangezur corridor project was put forward by Azerbaijan. After our Victory in the Second Karabakh War, this issue was put on the international agenda, in the international lexicon, and today the Zangezur corridor is already an accepted expression, an accepted term in the world. Of course, we are taking practical steps to open this corridor. True, the Armenian side has been demonstrating an unconstructive position on this issue for more than four years. In fact, it is not fulfilling the obligations it assumed after the November 10 capitulation. It was explicitly stated there that there should be a transport connection between the main part of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, which is its integral part. Armenia, however, does not comply with this, and by citing various excuses and putting forward various unrealistic and absurd projects, it simply wants to mislead the international community and is engaged in manipulations. You have probably heard that they have come up with the so-called “Peace Crossroads” project, and now there is not a single country in the world they have not shared this project with. However, this so-called project is not worth two cents without Azerbaijan, and we have repeatedly conveyed this to the Armenian side through various channels. If you truly want to implement this project, first of all, you should approach Azerbaijan. Because without us, it is just a piece of paper, and our terms are fair, grounded in international law and the obligations Armenia itself has undertaken. I would once again advise the Armenian leadership to carefully read the November 10 capitulation act and pay special attention to the paragraph I mentioned. I repeat that their so-called project is completely irrelevant without Azerbaijan. They are simply stalling for time and trying to confuse the international community. Once again, they have given rise to dirty campaigns against Azerbaijan in various circles. As a result, to this day, we do not have the shortest and most convenient connection with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an integral part of Azerbaijan.
True, we are meeting the needs of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in various ways. First of all, cargo and passengers go through the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We also have other opportunities. But they are economically less viable and the road is longer. In principle, this connection can also be established through the territories of Georgia and Türkiye, but if there is the most convenient way and opportunity, of course, this issue is a priority. However, when we see that the Armenian side is still acting insincerely, a corresponding agreement has been reached with the Islamic Republic of Iran and a project is now underway on the construction of a road bridge bypassing Armenia. It will probably be completed this year.
The second bridge will also be built, this time in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The first bridge is under construction in the Zangilan district. Thus, Armenia will continue to be a dead-end country and their dreams of becoming a transit state will never be materialized. They will be the losing side, not us. Therefore, this issue will be in the spotlight, and both on the international stage and in bilateral contacts with Armenia, we always emphasize one point: there must be unhindered passage from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan. There must be smooth and unrestricted passage from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan, without any inspections or obstacles. This is our demand. The Soviet authorities took West Zangezur from us in November 1920 and committed a crime against the Azerbaijani people. That was not the first and last crime. Secondly, if we go in sequence after that, another crime was the creation of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region” on the territory of Azerbaijan. The crime before that was the resettlement of Armenians to the territory of Azerbaijan by Tsarist Russia. The crime before that was the murder of the Karabakh Khan, who was guaranteed to exercise his leadership in Karabakh. Other crimes of the 20th century are also in sight. The Khojaly genocide, January 20, and the occupation of our lands in the early 1990s. So we have not forgotten this, the Azerbaijani people have not forgotten this. We have not forgotten Zangezur and we never will. I repeat that we have no territorial claims to Armenia. However, Armenia must fulfill its obligations and provide unhindered passage from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan.
As for the transport infrastructure of Baku, I will come to this issue now. But before we do that, I would like to bring to the attention of the public some of the work related to transport carried out in Azerbaijan in the past 20 years. In particular, over the last 20 years, 21,000 kilometers of highways have been built and repaired in Azerbaijan. 335 bridges and overpasses, 45 tunnels, 163 overhead and underground passages have been built. I am returning to what I said again. If we had not done this work, it is not difficult to imagine what state the transport infrastructure of our country would be in now.
The following work has been done regarding the railway infrastructure: more than 1,500 kilometers of railways have been built, 1,800 kilometers have been repaired, new trains, and wagons have been purchased, the Absheron circular line, which is more than 90 kilometers long, has been put into operation. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has been built. I must also note that this project was implemented at the initiative of the Azerbaijani state. When we sought to implement this project, we faced significant resistance. I can now state this. In particular, the United States opposed it. The reason was again their pro-Armenian policies. Because it was believed that this project would exclude Armenia. For this reason, the Georgian leadership at the time faced heavy pressure from the United States to prevent Georgia from agreeing to it. We had been negotiating with the Georgian side for several years, and finally, we succeeded in reaching an agreement. In particular, I personally discussed this issue repeatedly with high-ranking representatives of the American state and stated that they should not hinder us. This is a strategic project for us, and other countries, including their own allies, will also benefit from this project in the future. Life has shown that, as always, we were right. Today, America’s allies in Europe are very interested in the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. In general, they are also very interested in the transportation of cargo from Central Asia to Europe and vice versa, passing through the territory of Azerbaijan. If the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway had not been built, all this would have been completely impossible. Not only did we build the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway by reaching an agreement with Türkiye and Georgia, we also gave the Georgian state a loan of about one billion dollars at a very low interest rate at that time. In fact, work was carried out on the territory of Georgia with the help of these funds. The railway on the territory of Azerbaijan was modernized and Türkiye also built a section on its territory. So, a new road was opened, which today carries cargo from various countries to the White Sea, to Europe and to Türkiye. Then we saw that the carrying capacity of this road was not sufficient. Again, last year, the expansion of this road was completed at the expense of Azerbaijan and its carrying capacity was increased to 5 million tons. In other words, I believe that this is one of the most important projects implemented in our geography in recent years, and many countries will continue to benefit from it. At one time, those officials of the U.S. Department of State opposed us – I don’t know where they are now, their names have not gone down in history – but we achieved this by showing serious determination.
I would like to mention the Sumgayit-Yalama railway among the efforts to rehabilitate and modernize existing roads, as well as to increase the transportation capacity and train speeds. The construction of this road has already reached 80% completion, and it is expected to be fully operational in the near future. The road we are currently working on – the Alat-Astara road – is virtually known to exist, but considering that the volume of cargo on the North-South corridor will sharply increase in the future, the expansion of this road is also on the agenda, and some funding has already been allocated this year.
Several new train routes have been identified to ensure connectivity between Azerbaijani cities. Baku-Gabala. The railway line had never reached the city of Gabala before. We built it, this line is also very necessary. The Baku-Balakan railway has resumed its operation, so has Baku-Aghstafa. That is, those who know the geography of Azerbaijan see that these railways actually connect our country with our western border, with northwestern border and the city of Gabala. The cities located on all these lines are also naturally covered.
Over the past 20 years, eight international airports have been built in Azerbaijan. Four of them were there, but their condition was not satisfactory. The airports of Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, and Lankaran have been reconstructed. The Lankaran airport was practically not used, but the Baku, Nakhchivan and Ganja airports were used. Both the runways and terminal complexes of these four airports meet the most modern standards. At the same time, four new airports have been built – Gabala, Zagatala, Fuzuli, and Zangilan. The ninth international airport will be put into operation in Lachin this year. All these airports are capable of receiving cargo and passenger aircraft of any weight. The runway is at least three kilometers long. So, as I have said, the ninth airport will be put into operation this year, and we are completely closing this issue.
I should also note that Heydar Aliyev International Airport transported a record number of passengers last year – more than seven million. According to the information I have received, the analysis conducted by the ministry shows that this figure will increase further, and it was proposed that a new terminal complex be built at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. I also supported the idea. Work is now underway on the project and feasibility study of this new terminal. This work has already been started and it will allow us the opportunity to receive a higher number of passengers in the future. So, we will become an international center for air transport as well. Considering that a large cargo terminal is currently under construction in Alat, its cargo reception capacity will be 1 million tons. In other words, it is not too difficult to see the work we are doing in this direction of transport.
One of the important projects of recent years has been the construction of a new Trade Seaport. We removed the old port from the city center. Landscaping work will now be carried out in that area, recreation areas and various facilities will be built. So this zone will make an additional contribution to the overall development of our city and our people will also benefit from it. Work is underway on a master plan for this area, which is adjacent to the White City Boulevard.
The cargo handling capacity of the first phase of the new Trade Seaport was planned at 15 million tons. However, we can already see that the volume of cargo will be much larger. An order has already been given and we are starting work this year. International consultants have been involved to prepare and come up with a new project. We need to increase the port’s capacity to 25 million tons, and perhaps this will not be enough for us either. Because the volume of cargo on the East-West transport corridor is growing so rapidly that we must do this work in accordance with that. In order to concentrate all these transport issues in one center, a new organization – the AZCON organization – was recently established by my decision. It will take into account all these coordination and future development plans, including investment.
Since 2008, seven new metro stations have been built, and the State Program to be adopted provides for the construction of 10 new metro stations. A total of 266 new generation metro cars have been purchased, and this process is ongoing. Hundreds of new passenger buses have been brought to the country, and the assembly of electric buses will begin at the end of the year, followed by the increase in localization. A total of 161 new electric buses have already been brought to Baku, and in the near future Baku residents will see the benefits of this. Because it is vehicles that pollute the air the most, especially large vehicles. Therefore, of course, we take into account people’s concerns in this matter.
The shipyard was also built in recent years, about 10, maybe 12 years ago. Previously, we bought ships from abroad, and then I decided that a shipyard should definitely be built in Baku. Again, life shows how right this idea was. Today, it is impossible to buy ships from traditional sources, from where we used to buy them. We have now achieved a point when the shipyard is operating at full capacity. Currently, six ships of different sizes are under construction there. In parallel, we have raised our activities in the Black Sea to a new level. Whereas previously small-sized ships belonging to the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company used to operate there, now four large tankers – Aframax type tankers – with a carrying capacity of 100,000 tons – have been purchased, which both benefits us and expands the capabilities of our country.
Transport projects are the backbone of the work carried out in liberated territories. About 3,400 kilometers of highways – so far, 44 highway projects have either been completed or are still underway. In addition, 45 tunnels, 447 bridges, and 16 viaducts are planned. Of these, 28 tunnels, 392 bridges, and 9 viaducts have already been completed.
Some 60 percent of the Horadiz-Aghband railway has been completed, and 94 percent of the Barda-Aghdam railway has been constructed. These are just the main projects that I bring to the attention of the public, and these figures say and show everything. They show to what extent we have implemented transport projects. If we had not implemented them, the connections between Baku, other cities, and between cities of the country in general could have completely paralyzed our transport capabilities.
But let me say again that life does not stand still. We will now adopt a new state program. All transport projects across the country, including in the liberated territories, will continue to be implemented. Everything is going according to plan. The necessary funds have been allocated for these purposes in this year’s Investment Program.
As for the city of Baku and the territories around it, let me say again that the adoption of a new state program is necessary. This will be a very large program, a program with a large financial capacity. It will be a program that requires joint activity and efficient work of all relevant agencies. This is why I have called today’s meeting so that we can discuss these issues, so that they are presented to us, so that the public can also understand what is expected and what work should be done in which years. At the same time, representatives of the public can also give their recommendations to relevant state bodies – the Presidential Administration, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport. We may have not included something in this program. So suggestions from the ground will also be taken into account.