Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will discuss the construction of the Caspian segment of Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM), head of the working group of the TASIM project, Zaur Hasanov, told the Baku-based Trend news agency on October 3.

According to Hasanov, the meeting will be held before the year-end in Kazakhstan.

Laying of the Trans-Caspian segment of the cable line is one of the important components in the implementation of the TASIM project. Work on the construction of a fiber-optic cable line under the Caspian Sea is being considered by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Hasanov said work on the formation of the proposed structure and the legal basis of the Eurasian Connectivity Alliance has started.

A resolution supporting Azerbaijan's initiative on the establishment of the Eurasian Connectivity Alliance within the framework of the TASIM project was adopted by the UN General Assembly in early September.

According to initial forecasts, the structure of the alliance will be formed by the year-end. The initiative provides expansion of trans-regional cooperation in ICT, meeting the demands and helping governments solve problems in this sector. The private sector will be involved in these efforts.

In September, Executive Director on Infrastructural Projects of KazTransCom JSC Alexandr Kislitsyn said that the interest of Kazakhstan in the TASIM project has increased.

"The head of the presidential administration took the project under his personal control. Accordingly, its importance in Kazakhstan has increased. Perhaps, now we will make more efforts to promote the project faster," Kislitsyn said.

TASIM is a project of regional importance which aims to lay a transnational fiber-optic line covering the countries of Eurasia from Western Europe to Eastern Asia. The project envisions the creation of a major transit link from Frankfurt, Germany to Hong Kong. The line will combine major centers of information exchange in Europe and Asia. The line will stretch through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Germany. A reserve North transit line will traverse the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Poland.

TASIM will be implemented in two stages.

During the first phase leading regional countries and operators will create major Internet transit infrastructure, linking the West and East. The process is planned to be finalized in late 2013.

In the second phase of the project, TASIM is expected to provide the Eurasian countries that do not have direct access to open sea, including Central Asian states, with Internet connection at affordable rates. According to the plan, new fiber-optic lines will be constructed, while the existing lines will be upgraded and linked to the TASIM network.

The TASIM project will contribute to creating an open information society in the region, increasing the speed of Internet connection and promoting the development of Internet services, which, in turn, will lead to economic development, economic diversification and increased competition.