BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 20. In the European
Parliament in Brussels, Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Tomasz Poręba
hosted a round table discussion on a new section of the Via
Carpathia, the most important road corridor along the eastern
border of the EU on the North-South axis connecting the Baltic Sea
with Aegean, Black and Adriatic Seas, Trend reports.

The event was attended by Pablo Fabregas Martinez, Deputy Head
of Cabinet of Commissioner for Transport, Ambassador Faruk
Kaymakci, Turkish Permanent Delegation to the EU, Ambassador Vagif
Sadigov, Mission to the European Union of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, Bidzina Javakhashvili, Deputy Head of Mission of
Georgia to the European Union, and Ryszard Czarnecki, PiS Member of
the European Parliament.

“In the context of Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and
instability in Middle East, we need to diversify transport routes
in order to have much more resilient and stable transport network.
Transport is connecting businesses, different parts of the regions
and citizens, but also makes that interaction much more fluent. It
is not only the backbone of our economies, without transport any
business trade and will not happen,” Pablo Fabregas Martinez,
Deputy Head of Cabinet of Commissioner for Transport said.

Tomasz Poręba said that the Via Carpatia – starting in Klaipeda
and passing Kaunas, Białystok, Lublin, Rzeszów, Košice, Miskolc,
Debrecen, Oradea, Lugoj to Calafat/Constanta, Svilengrad and
Thessaloniki – is the shortest highway from the north to the
south.

He recalled that the idea to build this international highway
connection was launched first by Poland and afterwards joined by
six other EU Member States (Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania,
Bulgaria, and Greece).

“Thanks to our common efforts, the Via Carpatia is today the
most important transit route in Europe’s eastern regions. It has
been fully recognised by the European Union’s institutions and
consequently all sections of the road were included in the TEN-T
network. It’s the right moment to extend transport connection via
Turkey and Georgia to Azerbaijan in order to include Caspian Sea”,
Poręba stressed.

Speaking on the new section of the Via Carpatia – the Caucasian
Road Corridor – Poręba said it would open direct access from
Türkiye and the Caucasian countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia) to the Baltic Sea.

“This project will boost development in the region and
significantly accelerate its economic growth”, Poręba
emphasized.

Turkish Ambassador Faruk Kaymakci said that the possibility to
easily reach northern European countries will attract investment
and create a favourable business and industrial environment for
large companies, as well as for small- and medium-sized
enterprises.

“This would consequently result in job creation, reduce
unemployment and improve living conditions of our citizens. Türkiye
is ready to strongly cooperate with the EU on that matter”, he
added.

Ambassador Vagif Sadigov of the Republic of Azerbaijan
emphasized that the context of energy security, this new
international road corridor is of critical importance to the
countries concerned.

“Connecting Caspian Sea and South Caucasus with the EU should be
a matter of strategic importance for both parties, he added.

Georgian Deputy Head of Mission Bidzina Javakhashvili said that
Tbilisi welcomes transport plans with hope and is ready to
cooperate in order to implement them.

According to Tural Ganjaliyev, Member of the Azerbaijani
Parliament, new road connections between the Caspian Sea and the
European Union will not only accelerate the economic development of
the South Caucasus, but may be an important element of political
cooperation and normalization of the situation in the region. It is
also a great opportunity for Europe to build strong relations with
Azerbaijan and take advantage of its growing role and economic
potential.

“We should underline the importance of the Via Carpatia running
on the North-South axis between the Baltic, Aegean, Black and
Adriatic Seas, thus embedding into the process of advancing
economic and territorial cohesion of the European Union, and
contributing to the social and economic development of the Central
and Southern Europe. Countries like Türkiye and Azerbaijan play an
important role in turning these corridors from projects to reality.
The EU must continue to invest and take a lead role in
transregional trade corridor projects. This interconnectivity
increases the competitiveness of European goods and products”, said
ECR MEP Ryszard Czarnecki.

Regarding ongoing negotiations on further expanding the TEN-T
network to new regions, Poręba said: “We cannot stop here. We have
to use this opportunity to bring forward new future-proof road
projects connecting the Baltic See through seven European countries
with the Caspian Sea. All countries are ready in terms of concept,
infrastructure, plans and ideas. They are ready to improve
connectivity. It’s time to act”.