The Port of Baku along the Austrian ÖBB Rail Cargo Group and Cabooter Group (NL), came together and inked an MoU in order to boost and spread the freight traffic from the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) passing from Europe to Central Asia and China.
Through the signed agreement, both sides have decided to promote the Middle Corridor in Europe and enhance the connections between the European freight networks and logistics hubs with the Port of Baku.
The signing ceremony, which was held on 25th of November 2019, was attended by the Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria, Mr. Andreas Reichhardt, and Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Austria, Mr. Galib Israfilov.
The signed MoU marks a new strategic initiative of the Rail Cargo Group, expanding its presence towards Central Asia and China. The Port of Baku is going to play a key role in the development of the initiative.
…announced the Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria, Mr. Andreas Reichhardt.
All of the MoU’s participants, presented in a meeting held at the embassy of Azerbaijan in Vienna, where they further discussed about their expanding process towards Caucasus, Central Asia and China. However, the agreement offers several opportunities for the Port of Baku and the Middle Corridor altogether, and for the involved companies as well.
The agreement with new partner, the Austrian ÖBB Rail Cargo Group, is an important milestone in expanding the West-to-East transport corridor from Europe’s busiest logistics hubs in the Netherlands such as Venlo and Germany to Turkey (Istanbul), Azerbaijan (Baku), Central Asia and further to China.
…Director-General of the Port of Baku, Dr. Taleh Ziyadov noted.
Considered as a natural bridge between the European Union, Central Asia and China, Port of Baku the last ten years aids to the increase of EU’s exports to China. As for the other partner of the MoU, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group, plays an intense role at the leading rail logistics in Europe, while it operates a nationwide network of end-to-end logistics in Europe and beyond to Asia.
With about 60 years of experience in the logistics industry, the Cabooter Group provides a Platform of European Ports in several industries, from food to steel or from chemical to construction.
Overall, apart from this MoU agreement, Port of Baku has recently started cooperation with Dutch companies,while several months ago has announced its collaboration with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in order to promote greener ports and connectivity in the Caspian sea region.