Kazakhstan, Astana /corr. Trend K.Konirova / The project on the construction of the Caspian Underwater Segment of the Optical Cable Main - "Trans-Asia-Europe" (TAE) via the route of Siyazan (Azerbaijan) and Aktau (Kazakhstan) will bring huge profits to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan, Ali Abbasov, who is on visit to Kazakhstan reported to the Trend Special Correspondent.
The Minister said that he invited his Kazakh counterpart to visit Baku on 21 November, where an international exhibition "BakuTel 2007" will take place. The sides hope to make a concluding decision on the further realization of the project.
"Both sides expect to make this decision because several countries, which are located in the way from East to West, are interested in the project. The countries from the West are Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria and the Ukraine," the Minister said.
According to Abbasov, a qualitative information link will be established between Shanghai and Frankfurt by realizing the project.
Abbasov said that the heads of communication administrationsof Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria are expected to visit Baku. Attended by Ministers, the meeting in Baku will resolve the issue of a consortium on transportation of information traffic between the West and East. The consortium should include not only Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, but also other countries located in the way of the information traffic.
According to the Minister, a tender will most probably be announced in 2008. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have signed a protocol. The document was concluded between the International Relations and Accounts Department of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan's KazTransCom, according to which 50% of the expenses will be covered by Azerbaijan and 50% by Kazakhstan.
The length of the TAE section between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is 380 km. At the present time the route runs via Turkmenistan and Iran beyond the territory of Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani Ministry considers that by realizing the project there will be a real sensation because as a result, the route will decrease by 2000 km and it will accelerate traffic information transmission.