Baku hosts meeting of Transport Ministers of BSEC countries
The meeting of the Working Group of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) on Transport continued its work today with a ministerial meeting.
The meeting, which was chaired by Ramin Guluzade, Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was attended by Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey Mehmet Cahit Turhan, BSEC Secretary General Michael Kristides, as well as responsible representatives of relevant agencies of Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria.
Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade delivered a speech at the event. After welcoming the participants, the Minister noted that the meeting was being held within the framework of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in the BSEC. “During the chairmanship, the priority for us is the development of transport hubs in the region and the promotion of regional cooperation,” - the Minister said.
According to him, cooperation in the field of transport has been identified as the main direction capable of stimulating economic and trade relations since the establishment of the organization.
“The projects implemented within the framework of the BSEC demonstrate the parties' desire to create a highly developed transport infrastructure in the region. We highly appreciate the work done by the organization in this direction”, - the Minister said.
Ramin Guluzade also spoke about the work carried out by Azerbaijan in the relevant field.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan is expanding its investment potential, creating favorable conditions for foreign investment, including in non-energy sectors. The investment in transport projects aimed at developing of the transport complex infrastructure, simplifying its use and improving the quality of services is of particular importance”, he said.
The Minister also stressed that today Azerbaijan is both an initiator and active participant of a number of large-scale regional transport projects: “It is thanks to the development of the transport industry that our country is becoming the largest transit, logistics center and an important transport hub in the region.”
Moreover, the Minister pointed out that extensive work is continuing in Azerbaijan for the improvement of roads of international and republican significance with the introduction of state-of-the-art technologies. Work is also underway in the field of road transport to update the freight and passenger vehicle fleet, strengthen the position and technical equipment of national carriers, improve the methods of organizing international transportation, introduce digital tachographs and use the “single window” system.
“Work is done on regular basis to update the sea fleet. New tankers and ferries are purchased for the wide application of multimodal transport in the Caspian region in order to facilitate and increase the volume of maritime transport in general,”- Ramin Guluzade added.
The Minister also spoke on the significance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, inaugurated in October last year, the new Baku International Sea Trade Port and work on the creation of the Alat free economic zone.
According to Ramin Guluzade, these and other projects serve to create direct international auto ferry and railway communication in the Black Sea-Caspian region, and increasing the transit potential of the Republic of Azerbaijan as an important transport hub.
“The development of the transport sector directly affects development of other sectors of the economy, contributes to the growth of tourism opportunities. We believe that maximum use of the region’s transport potential and respond to new challenges, we all need to coordinate effectively transport operations and raise the level of services, introduce innovations, develop the competitive environment, eliminate barriers and facilitate the transit,” - the Minister said.
BSEC Secretary General Michael Christidis, in turn, stated that Azerbaijan had made progress during its presidency of the organization and also supported the development of relations between the other countries in the field of transport.
The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey Mehmet Cahit Turhan, said that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway not only connects the continents, but also acts as a corridor for the European and Asian transport networks of the Black Sea region.
Then, the heads of delegations, observers and representatives of international organizations also made statements at the meeting.
During the event, the current state of cooperation in the BSEC region in the field of transport, development prospects and other issues were discussed.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan has been one of the founders of the BSEC since 1992. The organization has 12 permanent members and 17 observers and it is headquartered in Istanbul (Turkey).
Azerbaijan within the BSEC cooperates with other members on the basis of mutual interests in a number of priority areas, including trade, customs, transport, energy, environment, information and communication technologies, scientific research etc.
