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Ground breaking ceremony of the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad held

24 July 2008 12:00 (UTC +04:00)

Yildirim said in his keynote speech that railroad would function in 2011 and Turkey will cover 76 km-part of 180-km line and 1 million passengers and 6.5 million ton cargos will be transported via Iron Silk Road route. To him, this line will be joined with Turkeyâ€“based Marmaray line and will play a role of bridge between Middle Asia and Europe.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev addressing the event expressed his gratitude to everybody, who has worked in this project carried out on the initiative of three countries and stressed that the construction would be end on time. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili added that the railroad has joined Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia forever. Turkish President Abdullah Gul noted that the railroad revived historical Silk Way and the huge project joined not only three countries, but Asia with Europe.
After speeches, the Presidents of three countries put symbolic rails on regionâ€™s map.