Greece could join TRACECA soon
By Rashid Shirinov
Greece intends to join the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) as an observer, the Permanent Secretariat of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission (PS IGC TRACECA) announced on July 11.
Greek Ambassador to Baku Dimitris Tsogas has already handed an official letter -request from the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport & Networks to Mircea Ciopraga, secretary general of the PS IGC TRACECA.
The ambassador mentioned the importance of TRACECA for the Black Sea region, South Caucasus and Central Asia and the neighboring areas in the context of fast global transport development.
In turn, Mircea Ciopraga informed Dimitris Tsogas about the recent activities of TRACECA and investment projects in the framework of the programme. He also spoke about the step-by-step procedure of granting observer status to the interested states and organizations.
TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is an international transport programme connecting the European Union, 14 member States of the Eastern Europe, Caucasian and Central Asian countries. It was established in 1993 including the EU, the Caucasus and Central Asia states representatives. The Permanent Secretariat of TRACECA was established in March 2000 in Baku.
Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Armenia are the member countries of the organization. Since 2009 TRACECA has been entirely financed by member countries.
The major objective of the project is to develop transport corridor from Europe to Central Asia via the Black Sea, Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan, connecting the routes between West and East, plays a significant role in functioning of TRACECA.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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