OSCE mulls transport corridor project from Afghanistan to Turkey via Azerbaijan

  17 April 2019    Read: 2117
  OSCE mulls transport corridor project from Afghanistan to Turkey via Azerbaijan

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger in Ashgabat on April 16, the Turkmenistan State News Agency reports. 

An exchange of views took place on the prospects for cooperation, and the formation of new international transport routes on the Eurasian continent became the subject of special attention.

“In this context, the importance of the multimodal transport and transit corridor Lapis Lazuli (Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey) was emphasized,” the report said.

In particular, the Turkmen president expressed confidence that the functioning of the new port in Turkmenbashi city will have a positive impact on the situation in the region and beyond, and will promote cooperation among the Caspian-littoral states.

Ensuring energy security and stable energy supplies, issues of environmental protection, rational use of water resources and settlement of the situation in Afghanistan were also mentioned as priority aspects of cooperation.

The OSCE secretary general drew attention to the importance of the Turkmen initiatives on laying power transmission and fiber optic communication lines on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) route, as well as the commissioning of the Serhetabat-Torghundi (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan) railway.

The Lapis Lazuli transit project envisions railways and highways connecting the city of Torghundi in Afghanistan’s Herat Province with Ashgabat, and further with the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi. The corridor will continue to Baku, then through Tbilisi to Ankara with branches in Poti and Batumi, and then from Ankara to Istanbul.


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