Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.8
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
The unresolved issue of the status of the Caspian Sea should not interfere with the construction of the Caspian segment of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM), Alexander Kislitsyn, executive director for infrastructure projects of KazTransCom told Trend Dec. 8.
According to him, the Caspian states have the right to conclude bilateral agreements on the projects in the Caspian Sea, if they do not address the issues reflected in the protocols of the meetings of the five Caspian littoral states, namely: the disputed territories, fish resources, protected areas.
In 1998, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to realize thesovereign rights for subsoil use. In 2001 and 2003 agreements were signed between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on the delimitation of the sea and the Protocol thereto, respectively. Also in May 2003, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea. In November 2003, the Caspian countries signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea.
If the bilateral relations of the country do not affect these resources, but simply want to install a cable, I think, no one will prevent them to do it, he said.
According to the executive director, it is possible that two cables will be built within the framework of the project TASIM to Azerbaijan: one from Kazakhstan, the other - from Turkmenistan. At the same time, Turkmenistan will be able to collect traffic from southern countries, namely, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan - from the north and east, such as China. Mounted capacity of the cable at the same time may be different.
If we are talking about the traffic from China, it may be hundreds of gigabytes, said Kislitsyn.
It was reported earlier that Turkmenistan is interested in the TASIM project.
Construction of TASIM envisages the creation of a major transit link from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. The network, which will bring together major information exchange centers of Europe and Asia, will run through the territory of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Germany.
Such countries as Russia (operator "Rostelecom"), Kazakhstan (operator KazTransCom), Turkey (operator TurkTelecom), China (operator China Telecom) are involved in TASIM project. Azerbaijan is represented in the project by AzInTelecom (formerly the International Relations and Accounting Center of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies).
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