Ukraine Launches Demonstration of New Silk Road, Bypassing Russia
The Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Aivaras Abromavičius, wrote on his Facebook page that the first demonstration cargo train departed from Illichivsk via a the Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China (through the Caspian and Black Seas) route.
“The cargo train is running on the Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China route. This demonstration cargo train still has to resolve technical and logistical issues, and work out other technical aspects, which can arise. After this is done, if everything is in order, we will be able to switch to this route as the normal means for the transportation of goods from Europe to China and from Ukraine to China, via Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Thus, we are opening a new route for Ukrainian goods to those markets. We have always been very strong in the markets of Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Moreover, we are opening a route to new markets, access to which was limited because the Russian Federation imposed restrictions on the transit of Ukrainian goods,” the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Andriy Pyvovarsky said.
The Governor of Odessa, Mikheil Saakashvili, is sure that the work of a new transit route from Ukraine to China, bypassing the territory of Russia, will be successful. Saakashvili called the new route Putin’s nightmare.
“Being aware of our bureaucracy, I was certain that we would have significant difficulties and that we may even fail, but we managed to succeed in creating this. This success is to the credit of the Ministers and his team, who, for some reason, wrote a letter of resignation (actually, I understand why he did so but it is wrong); but still we managed to launch this route,” Saakashvili stated.