Azerbaijani FM, U.S. trade mission discuss Middle Corridor development

BAKU. Sept 8 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with representatives of the U.S. Certified Trade Mission for the Middle Corridor in Baku on Monday to discuss the corridor's development prospects, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The meeting participants underlined the historic significance of the documents signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, the United States and Armenia in Washington on August 8 and said that the agreements contributed to regional peace and progress and unlocked great prospects for Azerbaijani-U.S. relations, the statement said.

The project will provide unhampered communication between the main part of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (through the Trump Route, the Zangezur Corridor).

The sides discussed Azerbaijani steps towards developing the Middle Corridor, including the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the Baku seaport, and the Alyat free economic zone.

"Azerbaijan has strategic connections with partner states east of the Caspian Sea through the Middle Corridor, with Central Asian countries," the ministry said.

"The sides also discussed other issues of mutual interest," it said.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, aka the Middle Corridor, is the international transport corridor going through China, Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey and European countries.