Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 10 / Trend N. Kirtskhalia /
The prospect of constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Batumi-Trabzon highway was the main topic of discussion at a meeting of the expert group on the initiative of the model highway in Batumi today.
It is the logical continuation of the New European Transport Initiative.
The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the International Automobile Union and GUAM are the organizers of the meeting.
The development of additional infrastructure and participation of the private sector in the process are also being discussed at the meeting. The additional infrastructure involves the modernizing of the border crossing point and equipping it with modern technologies, expanding the network of petrol stations, car parks and hotels. All this will contribute to an increase in road transport between Europe, the Caucasus and Asia as well as adding new jobs.
Deputy Economy Minister George Karbelashvili and head of transport policy department Ia Janashia, representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, as well as the Azerbaijani and Turkish relevant bodies attend the meeting. The representatives of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the business sector also attended the meeting.
The NELTI project monitored the commercial delivery of goods from Central Asian countries to Europe. It showed that the problems of the modern "Silk Road" are largely procedural in nature. Neither the length of the route, nor the infrastructure is the obstacles in land transport from China to Europe and vice versa.
The Model Highway Initiative is the real mechanism of public-private partnership. It unites the efforts of private business and authority to facilitate trade and develop road transport, as well as the fight against corruption.
The first and main component of the Model Highway Initiative is to implement institutional and administrative reforms at the national level in all transition countries. Its goal is to improve trade and border procedures in accordance with UN Conventions in the field of transportation. This also includes the use of international experience, for example, the "green corridor" for trucks transporting deliveries between Asia and Europe, and the introduction of the electronic declaration of goods.
The second major component of the initiative provides for establishing an adequate road infrastructure, primarily, well-equipped border crossings and major logistics centers, filling stations and parking lots.