Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22
By Elchin Huseynov - Trend:
Senior officials and leading experts from 30-35 countries will participate in the Caspian forum scheduled for December 4-5 in Istanbul, Secretary General of the Caspian Strategic Institute HASEN Khaldun Yavash told Trend on Thursday.
According to Yavash, this will be the second Caspian Forum, to be held in Istanbul. Issues relating to such areas as energy, security and the Caspian transit corridor will be discussed.
Southern Gas Corridor will be of particular importance in terms of security given that the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) project implementation will be launched in 2014, Yavash said.
According to Yavash, senior officials and representatives from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, US, Israel, the Balkan countries, the European Union and other regional countries are expected to attend the Caspian forum.
The topic "Development of financial markets in the Caspian region" will be discussed during the panel discussions on the first day.
After the official opening, the discussions on " Caspian transit corridor: the revival of the Silk Road" will be held on the second day, and then - "Southern Corridor: the main pipeline for regional energy resources".
Another Caspian awards ceremony was also planned to be held. A statesman of the year, representatives of science, culture and sport will be awarded, Yavash said.
After the Istanbul forum, similar topics will be discussed at the Brussels Caspian forum in February, the New York Caspian forum in September and perhaps in another city, Yavash said.