BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 24. On November 24, Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov met with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Tatyana Molchan, Trend reports citing The Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan.
The importance of the UN Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Week held in Baku was emphasized, and the participation of the UNECE Executive Secretary in the summit, organized for the first time during Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of SPECA and dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the program, was highly appreciated at the meeting.
It was noted that Azerbaijan cooperates widely with SPECA member countries in various fields, both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of the program. It was emphasized that Azerbaijan plays the role of a trade and transit hub between East and West for the SPECA countries, and the integration of the existing infrastructure of the region will contribute to the development of the economies of the countries of the region and increase the potential of international transport corridors passing through their territory, and projects such as the Baku International Maritime Trade the port and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will play an important role in this cooperation. Considering that the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (Middle Corridor) passes through the geographical region covered by SPECA, the joint efforts of the participating countries to improve the efficiency of this corridor have been highly appreciated. In this regard, the importance of adopting the Road Map for the digitalization of multimodal information exchange along the Middle Corridor was noted at the Summit.
Information was presented on the work done towards the development of road transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan in recent years. It was noted that the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from occupation created new opportunities for the development and diversification of regional transport and logistics routes. Attention was drawn to Azerbaijan's work in the field of green transformation, the development of renewable energy sources, and the fight against climate change. In the context of SPECA, it was emphasized that the fight against climate change and green development should always remain on the agenda as priority issues. It was noted that important work has been done in this direction in Azerbaijan, and the country has begun implementing projects related to the production of solar and wind energy together with foreign investors. It was especially emphasized that this approach is also applied during restoration work carried out in territories liberated from occupation. It was noted that Azerbaijan, together with other partners, began construction of a “green” energy bridge to Europe.
Regarding environmental issues, Ali Asadov said that it is unacceptable to carry out activities that could have a transboundary impact, in particular in the mining industry in border areas. The importance of the “Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context” – the Espoo Convention in terms of preventing such activities was emphasized.