11 Kilometer Section of East-West Highway Opens in Georgia

A new section of Georgia’s main East-West highway that connects Bashi to Dapnari and detours Samtredia was officially opened on July 15.

The highway carries more than 60 percent of goods in transit. Improving this highway is vital for Georgia’s becoming a transport and logistics hub that will facilitate the development of trade relations on the one hand with Central Asia and the Far East and on the other hand with Turkey and Europe.

“Developing quality infrastructure is very important, and developing transit roads will benefit the population. Everyone will be free to use this road – the local population, businessmen, and representatives from our partner and neighboring countries. This will bring more income to our people,” said Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Investment Bank financed construction of the eleventh section of the East-West Highway.

European transit road E-60 is the second largest European transit corridor, which begins in Brest, France and ends in Irkeshtam, Kyrgyzstan. In Georgia, the E-60 (the East-West highway) starts at the border with Azerbaijan and ends at the Black Sea coast port of Poti. The corridor length is 392 km on the territory of Georgia.

Eka Karsaulidze