Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijan with the support of other member countries of the TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia) has appealed to the European Commission with the request to support the new integrated project for the development of transit cargo transportation, TRACECA National Secretary in Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev told Trend.
TRACECA is an international cooperation program in the field of transport between the EU and partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The organization has a permanent secretariat in Baku.
TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Iran.
Mustafayev said that the European Commission has recently lost interest in the corridor and pays more attention to the EU "Eastern Partnership" program. However, several currently implemented technical projects will be completed in the middle of next year.
"No one knows what will happen after their implementation is completed," said Mustafayev. "In this respect, Azerbaijan took the initiative and with the support of other TRACECA member states appealed to the relevant authorities of the European Commission."
"The matter rests in the extension of the deadline of the project on traffic safety and support for the new integrated project, within the framework of which all the technical issues would be considered - through rates, border procedures, legislation," he said.
Now the appeal is under consideration by the European Commission.
"The European Commission is a complex bureaucratic body, and we are now waiting for the decision on the project," Mustafayev said. "The cost of technical projects usually amounts to $3-$4 million, and it is a small amount for the EU. The project itself is very important from the point of view of solving transit, tariff and other problematic issues."
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
