Washington to discuss transport and oil and gas projects running through Azerbaijan

The 4th Trans-Caspian Forum will be held in Washington on May 22-23 with the support of the US Chamber of Commerce and a number of embassies, including Azerbaijan, Report informs citing the Russian media. The event was organized by the Caspian Policy Center with the support of the embassies of Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in US.

The Trans-Caspian Trade and Transit Corridor is a link between Europe and Asia, contributing to regional integration and trade, and includes Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in the west, as well as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan to the east of the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian political center notes that US plays an important role in the development of the Trans-Caspian corridor through joint initiatives aimed at expanding regional ties through oil and gas pipelines, promoting intra-regional cooperation and trade, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, Southern Gas Corridor, Lazurite Corridor transport route and C5 + 1 format.

The emerging business potential of the corridor is not well understood, and the trade of the Caspian countries with the United States is far behind as compared with the EU and China. This gap has been recognized to eliminate the upcoming international forum organized by the leading American think tank studying the problems of the Caspian region.

During the Trans-Caspian Forum, opportunities and challenges in strengthening the strategic interaction between Washington and the Caspian countries will be reviewed. It is also planned to explore business, trade and investment opportunities in the interests of all stakeholders. Forum events will be held on the premises of the US Congress. It is known that Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce for Global Initiatives Gary Litman, representatives of the US Department of State, representatives of ministries and ambassadors of Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Azerbaijani Ambassador to Washington Elin Suleymanov and Deputy Minister of Transport Communications and High Technologies Elmir Velizade will take part in the Conference.