ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Nov. 4
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Activities aimed at promoting green ports and connectivity in the Caspian Sea region have been launched in Turkmenistan with support of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Trend reports with reference to OSCE.
A roundtable discussion for experts took place in Ashgabat and a technical workshop was held at the Turkmenbashi International Seaport. Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Communication, the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, the Ministry of Energy as well as port and customs authorities, representatives of logistics companies, head of diplomatic missions in the country and OSCE experts reviewed key phases of the project.
They also discussed national technical assistance needs and major benefits that such a co-operative approach to digitalizing and greening the selected ports in the Caspian Sea will bring.
The project acitiviries in Turkmenistan followed similar initiatives in Azerbaijan in June 2019 and in Kazakhstan in October. The project is implemented with financial support from Germany, Italy, Iceland and Azerbaijan.
“It will contribute to efforts of further developing the Caspian Sea into a regional logistics and trade hub, which would bring sustainability and security in the OSCE area and economic well-being to the people living in the region,” the report said.
"We are very happy to support this important project which will further improve the economic co-operation between Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, help reduce the carbon footprint of transport and promote sustainable connectivity," said Diego Ungaro, Ambassador of Italy to Turkmenistan.
Neithart Höfer-Wissing, Ambassador of Germany to Turkmenistan, noted that connectivity is very important in a globalized world and should be further promoted between Central Asian countries. He also added that Germany is a proud supporter of this OSCE project.
It is expected that this flagship project will provide an additional impetus to the OSCE's ongoing activities in the area of promoting instruments of trade and transport facilitation and digitalization along with developing transit potential of the beneficiary countries.
Daniel Kroos, OSCE Senior Program Officer, explained that a growing interdependence between the economies in the region calls for a comprehensive approach to energy, digital data exchange and transport infrastructure.