OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

Dear conference participants!

Dear guests!

I welcome you to the anniversary conference marking 20 years of activity of the International Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia and congratulate each of you on the occasion of this significant event.

The holding, on the initiative of national leader Heydar Aliyev, of an international conference dedicated to the restoration of the historical Silk Road in Baku on 7-8 September 1998 with the participation of nine heads of state (Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan), 13 international organizations and delegations of 32 states was the embodiment of the special significance and attention our country attaches to the TRACECA Program. As a result of that conference, the “Fundamental Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for the Development of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia Corridor” was signed on the basis of the European Union’s TRACECA Program. In addition, on 21 February 2001, the Permanent Secretariat of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission was opened in Baku in a ceremony attended by national leader Heydar Aliyev.

Over the 20 years of activity, the TRACECA Program has made a significant contribution to the promotion of multimodal transportation among member-countries, creation of favorable conditions for transit traffic, expansion of cooperation in the development of trade, economic and transport links, as well as the enhancement of the economic potential of these countries.

Recognizing the importance of developing transport corridors and related infrastructure in the Europe-Caucasus-Asia region, the Republic of Azerbaijan invests in a number of projects and maintains cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats. In this regard, I would like to emphasize that Azerbaijan, being the initiator of projects important for the region, is also the main co-executor of such important international projects as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the Southern Gas Corridor, and the executor of East-West and South-West automobile projects, the Baku International Trade Seaport and other local projects supporting international transport corridors, including the promotion of multimodal infrastructure.

The Republic of Azerbaijan, which pays great attention to cooperation in the transport sector, views the activities of the Program in the coming period as the start of a new stage in terms of the development of the transport sectors of our countries. Our country will continue to constantly participate in the implementation of even more important projects in the priority areas of the Program to ensure the successful implementation of this activity.

I am sure that the discussions to be held within the framework of the conference and the documents to be adopted will create favorable conditions for effective Program activities in the future.

Ilham Aliyev 

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 5 December, 2019