TRACECA members gather in Baku

The Mehr News Agency quoted the deputy of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization as stating that following last year's meeting in Brussels, three special meetings were organized in Baku.

On the topic of the special meetings, Shahram Adamnejad said, following up on the member countries' proposed projects in Brussels for 2010, reviewing projects in relation to sea routes through the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, and means to enhance road safety in the region comprised the main issues of the conference.

Adamnejad said that in this conference references were made to the transit situation of Iran in the region and Amirabad and Neka ports on the Caspian Sea and their connection to the road and rail networks of the country as well as easy access from these ports to ports in Southern Iran, Turkmenistan, Turkey and other neighboring countries were seen as the transit advantages of Iran.

TRACECA is an international transport program involving the European Union and 14 member States of the Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian region. TRACECA aims at supporting political and economic independence of the Republics by enhancing their capacity to access European and World markets through alternative transport routes, encouraging further regional cooperation among the partner countries and increasingly being a catalyst to attract the support of International Financial Institutions and private investors.

TRACECA members include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Iran.

Iran officially joined TRACECA in a bid to expand its international transit links. During TRACECA’s meeting in Brussels in September 2008, Iran’s request for joining the organization was approved.

MRK/HB

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