TRACECA

The Transport Corridor Europe- Caucasus -Asia ( TRACECA ) is a transport and communications project that will connect Europe and Central Asia. It is to the east-west routes of the historic Great Silk Road revive.

History

It is a 1993 aufgelegtes project of the European Union under its TACIS program. Prior to 2002, the TRACECA budget 46 individual projects for a total of 99.6 million U.S. dollars have been funded, including 33 research projects and 13 investment projects for the reconstruction of infrastructure. Around 50 % of the budget is earmarked for investments that will make the TRACECA program more attractive and create a favorable investment climate

On 7 and 8 September 1998 took place in Baku a conference on the " restoration of the historic Great Silk Road " instead. At the end of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan signed a " Multilateral Agreement on International Transport and the development of a European- Caucasian- Asian corridor ".

At a conference in March 2000 in Tbilisi an Intergovernmental Committee of TRACECA countries increased ( TRACECA / IGC ) on his work. It opened in February 2001 with the help of the EU, a Permanent Secretariat in Baku. The Secretariat is divided into four working groups: trade, motor vehicle, rail and sea transport.

Presence

Since 1998, the transport in the TRACECA corridor has steadily increased. A special recovery took the route through humanitarian aid flights from Europe to Afghanistan. Azerbaijan recorded 3.4 million tons of transit cargo in that year. 2000 1999 the number grew to 4.4 million tonnes to 5.7 million tonnes in 2001 to 7.7 million tons in 2002 and to 8.5 million tons.

The boom led to the creation of new firms in the participating countries. In Georgia, the group Silk Road Companies Georgia ( SRG) (Eng. Silk Road Company of Georgia ) was born. Together with the Kazakh Bank Turan Alem ( BTA) she founded in March 2005, the Silk Road Bank ( SRB) (Eng. Silk Road Bank), was a collaboration with the French company BNP Paribas and participates in the remodeling of the former Inter Hotel Iveria to a five -star hotel in the center of Tbilisi.

Russian competition

Russia considers the TRACECA project suspicious because the path leads around its territory. As part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the UN, Russia is why since 1998, alternatives to TRACECA ahead. Here are four historical road links between Europe and Asia will be strengthened through Russian territory.

Be especially promising a Scandinavian - Russian route via St. Petersburg and Moscow to Baku in Azerbaijan is considered, which could be continued up to Iran. On the north -south route up to 100 million tons of cargo could be transported annually.