Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev / Discussed at the meeting of the Council of Transport Ministers of the BSEC countries in Istanbul was The transport infrastructure projects, including projects on the construction of the ring road around the Black Sea, on the development of seaways in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) region, on the restoration of passenger and ferry services between the ports of the Black Sea countries,. The Azerbaijani delegation at the meeting was headed by the Transport Minister, Ziya Mammadov.
During the meeting Russia suggested viewing the possibilities of establishing a railway-ferry circle, which would be analogical to the construction of a high-speed highway around the Black Sea. The representatives of the Russian Transport Ministry believe that the implementation of the project will relieve the major overload of motor transport and the road transport infrastructure in the region. The Ring road around the Black Sea will be via the territories of all 12 BSEC countries, with its length comprising some 7,000 km.
BSEC uniting Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldavia, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine was founded in Istanbul in June 1992. Thirteen countries including Belarus, Germany, the United States, France, have the status of observers.