Discussions about the creation of the "Tbilisi-Kars" railway in Georgia began in 1993 (US President - Clinton). On April 4, 1996, Shevardnadze and Demireli signed the declaration on the construction and design of the "Tbilisi-Kars" railway. In January 2005, a new agreement was signed (President of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer), which was refused to be financed by the European Union (Chairman of the European Parliament - Joseph Borrell, Spain; President of the European Commission - Jose Barroso, Portugal; Transport Commissioner - Jacques Barro, France) and the USA (President J. Bush). 

There was no Baku before... At this time, if the USA and the European Union had found 600 million dollars for us (this is the amount of Baku's loan) and had attracted additional investments, Georgia would have been dominant on the railway line between Europe and Asia. Well, if you look at the history of the "sanctions" imposed by the US, you will be surprised, but one of the first is the law signed by George W. Bush, which was passed by the Congress in 2006; The law prohibited American banks from financing the construction of the Tbilisi-Kars railway.

After that, a third party appears in the project - Azerbaijan! On February 7, 2007, in Tbilisi, Saakashvili, Erdogan (Turkey's Prime Minister; the President is still Cesare) and Aliyev will meet and sign the "Tbilisi Declaration on Cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia". After that, the three leaders will sign an agreement on the construction project of the new "Baku-Tbilisi-Kars" railway. "This is a project that will geopolitically change our region, as a new strategic line is opened that will connect not only our three countries, this line will connect Asian and European countries and will become a solid foundation for the development of our regional cooperation. Actually, this is a creation of updated, modern version of the "New Silk Road", Saakashvili said before the signing ceremony.

On October 30, 2017, the "Baku-Tbilisi-Kars" railway was officially opened. The opening ceremony was attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey - Aliyev and Erdogan, the prime minister of Georgia - Kvirikashvili, as well as the prime ministers of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan - Aripov and Sagintaev. The European Union has positively assessed the opening of the railway, calling it a key element of transport links that unites the EU with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Central Asia.

December 8, 2020