TEHRAN – Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Farzaneh Sadegh has expressed Iran’s readiness for hosting the upcoming meeting of the TRACECA ministers which is due to be held in February 2025.

Sadegh made the remarks in a meeting with TRACECA Corridor Secretary General Asset Assavbayev in Tehran on Saturday, IRNA reported.

During a two-day trip, Assavbayev traveled to Astara from the headquarters of the TRASICA secretariat in Baku and visited the railway and road lines of this route, and finally came to Tehran to discuss the preparations for holding the meeting of TRASICA ministers and transferring the chairmanship of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission to Iran.

As reported, in the meeting with Assavbayev, the Iranian side presented the Islamic Republic’s initiatives for the chairmanship of TRCECA, including increasing the cooperation of the member countries of TRASICA and promoting Iran's transit role in the region.

TRACECA corridor is involved in gradually developing trends of trade and economic development. Major traffic flows passing through a corridor formed on the one hand, in Western and Central Europe, and on the other - in Central and South-East Asia.

The attractiveness of TRACECA countries is confirmed by their interest in extending regional cooperation and development services.

After the completion of the Strategy implementation with the support of the European Union Technical Assistance projects the TRACECA countries are prepared to get down to a new stage of the Europe-the Caucasus-Asia corridor development.

TRACECA (acronym: Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is an international transport program involving the European Union and 12 member states of the Eastern European, Caucasus, and Central Asian region. The program aim is to strengthen economic relations, trade, and transport in the regions of the Black Sea basin, South Caucasus, and Central Asia. It has a permanent Secretariat, originally financed by the European Commission, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and a regional office in Odesa, Ukraine. Since 2009, the organization has been entirely financed by member countries.

TRACECA was established in May 1993 in Brussels, upon the signing of a Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for the development of transport initiatives (including the establishment and development of a road corridor) between the EU member states, Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian countries. The program supports the political and economic independence of former Soviet Union republics through enhancing their access to European and global markets through road, rail and sea. The objectives of TRACECA were underlined by the Baku Initiative of 2004, followed by a further ministerial conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2006.

Iran officially joined TRACECA in 2009 after their request was accepted during a meeting held in Brussels.

In 1996, Mongolia was granted observer status.

In 2009, Lithuania was granted observer status.

In July 2016, Greece announced they are considering joining TRACECA activities as an observer. In March 2018, Greece was granted observer status during a meeting held in Yerevan.

TRACECA has five working groups: maritime transport, aviation, road and rail, transport security, and transport infrastructure. Amongst its specific projects, was the creation of a new bridge to replace and protect the heritage Red Bridge, located between Georgia and Azerbaijan.

In July 2023, it was announced for TRACECA to join the eTIR international system.

EF/MA

Photo: Iranian Transport Minister Farzaneh Sadegh (R) and TRACECA Corridor Secretary General Asset Assavbayev (2nd L) meet in Tehran on Saturday