Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Delegates of a UN General Assembly committee have adopted a resolution on expanding internet access by creating Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) upon Azerbaijan's initiative, the UN said Friday.

The delegates urged UN member states to provide realization of this and other initiatives which focus on overcoming the gap in digital technologies.

The co-authors of the draft resolution include Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. The document welcomes the project on creating Trans-Eurasia Information Super Highway, which is aimed at modernizing telecommunication channels between Asia and Europe.

The member states are offered to further support the project by engaging both the public and private sectors of the economy.

The document mentioned the regional meeting of telecommunication ministers held by the Azerbaijani government on November 11, 2008 in Baku jointly with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat to discuss the TASIM project.

The resolution points out the great opportunities in social development which internet access provides, including the protection and expansion of the rights of women and youths and encouragement of social integration.

The General Assembly recommended the member states to contribute to making regional decisions in the area of internet access. The resolution suggests that the international community support extended internet access to global telecommunications, with a special emphasis on the countries which do not have full access to broadband internet.

The resolution will be submitted to the plenary session for approval, just like other resolutions passed by the General Assembly's main committees. This is just a legal formality, given that representatives of all member states sit on the committees and the results of voting in plenary sessions generally do not differ from committee votes.

TASIM is a project of regional importance, whose aim is laying a transnational fiber-optic line covering the countries of Eurasia from Western Europe to Eastern Asia.

The project envisages the creation of a major transit link from Frankfurt, Germany to Hong Kong. The line will combine the major centers of information exchange in Europe and Asia. The transit line will stretch through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Germany. Reserve North transit line will pass through the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Poland.

On December 21, 2009 a resolution supported by representatives of 30 countries was adopted at the 64th plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly for the creation of TASIM superhighway.

Azerbaijan organized the first international workshop on TASIM in July 2011 in Gabala, which was attended by leading telecom companies - China Telecom (China), Kaztranscom (Kazakhstan), Rostelecom (Russia), Turktelekom (Turkey) and Pantel (European Union). The Secretariat of the project was created as a result of the meeting and the operators agreed to start work on a detailed memorandum of understanding for establishment of a consortium under TASIM.

TASIM is a long-term initiative and 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 completed in late 2013.

In the second phase of the project, it is supposed that by using the created transit infrastructure, TASIM will 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 connected to the TASIM network.

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