The First Special Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs was convened in Bucharest, Romania on - March 2019 to further strengthen and enhance economic cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Turkmenistan in support of sustainable development and stability across the wider region.

The Meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Mr. David Zalkaliani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Mr. Teodor-Viorel Meleşcanu and Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of the Ministers of Turkmenistan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Mr. Rashid Meredov.

The Ministers,

reaffirmed the mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of their internationally recognized borders,

highlighting the current achievements of sectoral cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Turkmenistan and calling for expanding trade and economic relations and fostering interregional connectivity,

recalled a significant project for all four States about the development of the international transport route between the Black and Caspian Seas in a quadruple partnership, giving the growing international significance attached to the global trade and effective transport connectivity,

stressed that the States of the Black and Caspian Seas are playing an important role in further promotion of the Black Sea-Caspian Sea freight transportation route as a competitive link connecting Europe and Asia,

underlined that Black Sea-Caspian Sea international transportation route will complement other similar regional projects, which are aimed at establishing effective transportation of goods from Asian states through Caspian and Black Seas to Europe and vice versa across the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Turkmenistan,

underlined importance of creating all necessary conditions for developing a direct route between port of Constanta and Danube River as an important connection with the Central and North-Western European water channels and an alternative route for effective transportation of cargo, highlighting the priority of improved interconnectivity as one of the key elements of the European Neighborhood Policy and the EU Strategy for Central Asia,

stressed the importance of making the best use of existing and other potential cooperation formats with the EU to develop international transportation route connecting the EU with the Central Asia trough Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Turkmenistan,

stressed the importance of promoting active engagement of private enterprises and business communities in the implementation of projects and initiatives within the international transport route, also called upon international partners for active cooperation in realization of the initiatives within the concept,

reaffirmed that regional economic cooperation and integration offers broad opportunities for growth, and can assist with taking advantage of and developing the long-term economic potential that exists in the wider region, and stressed the need for further advancing regional economic cooperation as an effective tool for achieving economic prosperity,

emphasized the achieved progress in development of the Baku International Sea Port infrastructure along with the creation of the Free Economic Zone in Alat (AZ), Port of Batumi (GE), Poti (GE), Constanta (RO) and Turkmenbashi International Sea Port (TM), and building the Anaklia (GE) Deep Sea Port, stressing importance of utilization of facilities/opportunities offered by the mentioned ports for successful and effective operation of the international transportation route,

emphasized the progress of development of other infrastructure projects in all four States that will ensure fast and secure transportation of goods within and beyond the Black Sea-Caspian international transport route,

agreed to implement practical steps for ensuring fast and effective progress , and particularly:

• to establish quadrilateral expert working group to conduct all technical aspects with the aim to ensure effective implementation of the initiative of establishing the Black Sea-Caspian Sea international transportation route, hereinafter “BSCS international transportation route”;
• to ensure seamless functioning of the BSCS international transportation route trough optimization of operational procedures and ensuring effective cooperation of relevant national authorities;
• to facilitate work of harmonization of tariffs and simplification of customs procedures for raising the competitiveness of the BSCS international transportation route;
• to facilitate cooperation between the national operators of the States for realization of this project;
• to identify remaining infrastructure gaps and facilitation needs along the corridor for taking respective measures to mitigate the existing challenges;
• to promote jointly the BSCS international transportation route with other interested states and international organizations, notably with the EU for further development of relevant infrastructure and attraction of additional cargo flows;
• to promote safe, efficient, affordable and environmentally sound use of the BSCS international transportation route;
• to consider improving the transport legislation of the participating States for ensuring competitive conditions for all parties of the transportation process;
• with the view to reducing the processing time of ferries and improving the service quality, to encourage the use of digital technologies for simplification of export and import procedures and introduction of advanced information exchange system;
• to continue dialogue with interested countries in order to expand the geography of the BSCS international transportation route;
• to meet regularly, but not less than once a year, on the ministerial level to assess the progress and plan the next steps for promotion of the BSCS international transportation route.

Elmar Mammadyarov

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

David Zalkaliani

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia

Teodor-Viorel Meleşcanu

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania

Rashid Meredov

Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of the Ministers of Turkmenistan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan