BTK railway and Eurasia Initiative
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By Chang-Nam Ko
Do you know, by any chance, what BTK stands for? It could refer to many different abbreviations like “Back to keyboard,” or “Birth through knowledge,” but in terms of international railways, it stands for Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. BTK railway is a regional rail-link project that directly connects Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. It is expected that BTK railway will promote trade in the Caucasus region and between Asia and Europe.
I participated in an international conference on the BTK railway held in Baku, Azerbaijan from Oct. 15-17. The title of the conference was ``Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway link ― new opportunities for the development of the historical Great Silk Road” and was organized by the Ministry of Transport of Republic of Azerbaijan. About 85 officials from 46 different Asian and European countries, representatives of international organizations and financial institutions participated in the conference and discussed the BT railway project and international cooperation on the Great Silk Road.
The main objective of the conference was to present to the world community the importance of the BTK railway project and its goal to position Azerbaijan as an efficient transport hub between Europe and Asia.
As for the Republic of Korea, Deputy Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Park Kee-poong was supposed to participate in the conference as head of the ROK delegation. However, due to a parliamentary inspection of government offices, he wasn’t able to participate and I replaced him as the head of the delegation. There I delivered a speech on the present status of Korean railways and Korea’s “Eurasia Initiative,” which caught participants’ attention.
As the host country for the conference, Azerbaijan`s Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov said the BTK railway project is open for participation of other countries and it is planning to launch a test train by late 2014, with a view to starting commercial operation in 2015.
The conference culminated with the signing of the Joint Declaration, emphasizing regional and international cooperation among countries of the Eurasian region, particularly in supporting the efficient integration of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars with trans-European and trans-Asian railway networks.
The key objective of the BTK railway project is to improve economic relations between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, thus gaining direct foreign investment by connecting Europe and Asia. Some commentators have viewed this new route as an attempt by Azerbaijan to bypass and isolate Armenia from regional economic projects. However, a route through Armenia was politically impossible due to the unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
At present, as completion of its final stage is targeted for 2015, the BTK railway is expected to contribute to regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, while further marginalizing Armenia within the South Caucasus.
As for the Eurasia Initiative, which the government of Park Guen-hye is actively pursuing, it remains a fact that the two Koreas are politically and diplomatically opposed. In order to go ahead with the Eurasia Initiative, both sides should take appropriate measures to improve their relationship in the near future. The Eurasia Initiative is not only a matter of economic cooperation among related countries, but also a matter of political and diplomatic collaboration.
It is desirable that the Eurasia Initiative will succeed eventually, overcoming the complex political and diplomatic deadlock among the related countries.
The writer worked as an economic affairs officer for the Transport Infrastructure Section, Transport Division, U.N. ESCAP from 2011 to 2012. His email address is kcn1204@kr.or.kr.