BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 17. The Port of Baku and the Chinese port of Qingdao signed a Memorandum of Understanding, TurkicWorld reports.

The document was signed by Deputy General Director of the Baku Port Zohrab Ismailov and Deputy General Manager of Shandong Port Group Liu Gang.

The Qingdao seaport handled 1.6 billion tons of cargo in 2022, and with the signing of the mentioned memorandum, the amount of handled cargo is expected to increase.

The signed memorandum aims to attract cargo from China, South Korea, and other Eastern countries to the territory of Azerbaijan with further transportation to Europe.

Amid this, the Port of Baku is currently working to increase its overall cargo handling capacity, which currently stands at 15 million tons - to 25 million tons. The necessary budget has already been allocated for this.

In addition, in March 2023, the Turkish Albayrak company put into operation a new crane for loading/unloading containers at the Baku International Commercial Sea Port.

The master plan for the second phase of the Port of Baku is being prepared by the Dutch Royal Haskoning DHV company. It is expected to be ready by mid-2023.