New air-terminal opened in Baku

In his remarks the President noted the importance of the new facility for the Azerbaijani economy.

President Aliyev stressed that using its geographic state Azerbaijan could receive more incomes, while employees of the terminal - high salaries. Tremendous work is implemented in the transport sector of Azerbaijan. AZAL state air company purchases new airliners and new airports are built. The head of state noted that the transit potential of the country was successfully used. The President also marked the successes achieved in the other spheres of economy. The railway increases the volume of transportation, the Caspian Shipping Company purchases new tankers and the construction of new automobile routes is underway, he underscored.

"Following the oil sector the transport is the most important sector of the Azerbaijani economy and there are too many prospects," Aliyev stressed.

According to the President the East-West and North-West transport corridors assume special importance and Azerbaijan's participation in these projects increases the role of the country as a transit country.

Jahangir Asgarov, the President of the AZAL state company, noted the considerable rise in cargo turnover over the past few years, which attained 20- 25% a year and are 3 times more than the international standards. He also stressed that the construction of airport in Ganja would be complete soon.

Asgarov noted the open area of the cargo terminal comprises 163,000 sq m, while its close area covers 12,000 sq m. The exploitation of the new terminal will enable to open 250 new jobs. Besides, AZAL created 590 new jobs.

The amount of investments in the construction financed by the British company International handling comprised $19m. The construction work was carried out by the Azerbaijani company Khazar Construction, while equipment was supplied by the United States, Canada and UK.

The terminal, the most powerful in CIS for its advanced equipment, is capable of admitting 9 airliners of Boeing 747 or An-124 or 15 airliners of IL- 76.