Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 5
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
The number of participants involved in the construction of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) may increase, Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan Iltimas Mammadov told reporters on Nov. 5.
He said all participants had signed a preliminary memorandum within the framework of last year's BakuTel-2014 exhibition.
"Currently, the work has already moved to a more detailed level of discussion between the operators," stated Mammadov. "This year, taking into account the interest of a number of operators in other countries, we also plan to hold a broad discussion on the project within the BakuTel-2015 exhibition."
He went on to add that the project had received support from the UN and that it was of particular importance for the development of the region.
Earlier, Azerbaijan proposed trilateral cooperation between the TASIM project, programs of the UN SPECA (Special Program for Central Asia) and CAREC (Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation).
This cooperation will contribute to the wide exchange of experience of Azerbaijan in the field of ICT with the countries of Central Asia, the broad support of the TASIM project, create the possibility of TASIM's integration with the Asian information superhighway, supported by the UNSCAP program (The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), according to the source. UNSCAP is the founder of SPECA.
Earlier, UNSCAP marked TASIM as a key example of regional cross-border terrestrial communication. The above statement was reflected in the conclusion and recommendations on the development of AIS and posted on the official website of UNSCAP.
The document said that the TASIM project is intended not only to connect Europe and Asia, but also to become one of the key parts of the AIS. UNSCAP and the TASIM secretariat were in favor of mutual support of the both projects and expressed their willingness to continue working together to create an information and communication space in Asia and the Pacific region.
UNSCAP invited to consider TASIM's joining the Eurasian Connectivity Alliance - EuraCA as an interested party as well, which represents the Asia-Pacific region.
At present, the TASIM project includes such countries as Russia (Rostelecom), Kazakhstan (KazTransCom), Turkey (TurkTelecom), and China (China Telecom). Azerbaijan is represented by AzInTelecom (earlier it was represented by the Center for International Relations and Calculations of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies).
TASIM project aims to reduce poverty, speed up economic growth, and can also play a leading role in the development of the region. Its implementation will eliminate the "information gap" between the countries of the West Europe and Pacific Basin.
