Tbilisi hosts Georgia-Turkey-Azerbaijan Foreign Ministerial

Tbilisi is gearing up to host the fifth trilateral meeting between Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers on February 19.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said the three Ministers would visit the Kartsakhi section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project in southern Georgia.

When complete the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad will link Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia. Its construction has been made possible thanks to an intergovernmental agreement between the three countries.

The railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Experts estimated that its overall capacity would peak at 17 million tonnes of cargo per year. Initially however the railway will be able to transport 6.5 million tonnes of cargo and one million passengers.

The project aimed to improve trade and economic relations between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, as well as to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) by connecting Europe and Asia.

The railway was expected to be fully operational by 2017.

Meanwhile the trilateral meeting will also focus on a wide range of topics.

"Within the framework of the meeting, the Ministers will exchange views on prospects for developing regional cooperation on issues of common interest and review the decisions taken at the previous meetings. They will also discuss prospective opportunities for cooperation,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

"The Trilateral Meeting of Foreign Ministers, where bilateral and regional issues are evaluated in a comprehensive way, contributes to the development of common understanding in all areas on the basis of mutual interest, and to the consolidation of regional stability and security.”

Prior to the trilateral meeting Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will hold bilateral meetings in Tbilisi. He is due to arrive in the Georgian capital for an official visit today.