Ankara recently received a request from a member of the Czech Railway Cooperation Association, Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismeloglu said at a meeting of Turkish, Azerbaijani and Kazakh foreign and Transport ministers held in Aktko, Kazakhstan. The association has proposed establishing a tourist transport route starting in the Czech Republic and ending in Kazakhstan by 2024.

The proposed routes are as follows: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

"I want to emphasize that more needs to be done to remove these barriers," Karaismeloglu said. He also said Turkey is proposing to extend the route of the Orient Express, which runs between Ankara and Kars, to Baku.

According to him, with the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTC) railway, the importance of not only freight but also passenger transport is growing. "During my recent visit to Georgia, I proposed to Mr. Rashad Nabiyev (Azerbaijan's Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technology) the extension of the passenger line to Baku." "Karaismeloglu said. Editor/Xu Shengpeng