OMM Newsroom
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev today.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the two leaders expressed satisfaction with the successful development of strategic partnership and allied relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
They noted that visits by the Azerbaijani president to Kazakhstan and by the Kazakh head of state to Azerbaijan had made an important contribution to expanding cooperation.
The leaders highlighted the high standard of organization of the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held in Baku, and said the event had provided a good opportunity to discuss cooperation among Asian countries.
The presidents exchanged views on issues on the bilateral agenda.
Later, Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev officially inaugurated the Trans-Caspian Fiber-Optic Cable Line online.
The presidents were briefed on the project.
They were told that the project, implemented by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as part of the Digital Silk Way initiative, creates new opportunities for digital connectivity between Asia and Europe. A cable approximately 380 kilometers long has been laid along the seabed of the Caspian Sea between Sumgait and Aktau. It has a capacity of more than 400 terabits per second. The launch of the line will strengthen the Middle Corridor’s strategic importance not only for transport but also for digital connectivity. The new route will enable data from China and Central Asia to be transmitted to Europe via Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia, and then across the Black Sea or through Türkiye. This will expand international data exchange and improve the resilience of digital communications. At the same time, the two countries are becoming not only consumers but also providers of strategic digital infrastructure and services.
The new line will also help attract investment and develop data centers for artificial intelligence, cloud services and computing capacity. It opens up prospects for new high-tech industries and services with significant added value.
The presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan pressed a button to mark the project’s official launch.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev then said:
– This is undoubtedly a very important project that will have an international impact. But most importantly, it represents a new type of corridor. It is not merely a transport corridor; it is an innovation suited to the modern era and the age of digitalization, and a completely new form of cooperation.
President Ilham Aliyev said:
– Yes. It is also another step toward strengthening cooperation between Central Asia and Azerbaijan. It is well known that in November last year Azerbaijan was admitted as a full-fledged member of the Consultative Meetings, and this year I already took part in the association’s meeting as a full member. This is another contribution to strengthening cooperation, because countries in Central Asia, the South Caucasus and a wider region will use this cable. Thus, today we have launched a global project.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said: Yes, this is the Middle Corridor in digital form.
Later, in the presence of the heads of state, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev and Kazakhstan’s Minister of Transport Nurlan Sauranbayev exchanged the signed Agreement on Cooperation in the Development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor).
Also, Rashad Nabiyev, in his capacity as chairman of the Supervisory Board of AZCON, and Nurlan Zhakupov, chairman of the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna JSC, exchanged a certificate confirming the acquisition of two dry cargo vessels by AZCON Holding and Samruk-Kazyna JSC.
