Marta Kos: [00:00:03] So how can we make sure our trade and energy links are more secure between Europe and Asia? (.) Which challenges do we have to tackle together, and how can it be a win-win for all of us? Dear Ministers, Excellencies, distinguished representatives of international financial institutions, friends from the private sector, ladies and gentlemen, warmly welcome in the name of the European Commission, and also especially Commissioner Josef Sikela, who would love to be here. Many of you know him, but he is in Brazil today.
It is extraordinary that in the world that is becoming more and more full of conflicts, we are choosing to move together in the opposite direction, towards more cooperation. And this is what the platform we are launching is all about. Europe is a continent of traders. [00:01:04] It is linked to the rest of the world by a dense web of economic relationships. One-fifth of the GDP of the European Union is generated by trade. (.) For a long time, this trade was underpinned by a legal and geopolitical world order that provided stability and predictability. (.) Today, this assumption no longer holds. Today, the very links that created prosperity can also become instruments of coercion. We have seen how trade, imbalances are used to exert pressure. We have seen how energy links are weaponized. And more recently, by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, what kind of influences this has had on all of us. (.) All our dependencies are now under scrutiny. So we ask the questions like, can we trust the suppliers? Can we trust the servers where our data is stored? (.) And can we trust the stability of the roads, railways, [00:02:07] and trains? And can we trust the data cables on which our goods and services are transported? (.) Those very same questions are asked all over the world. (.) We know that a world trade system that is less open and forced to build in redundancies is a loss for everyone. (.) But there are also many areas where we can achieve a win-win. (.) One of those win-wins is upgrading transport and energy links via the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. This serves both sides. Europe and Central Asia. It provides more reliable options to all of us. It responds to an ask by business leaders. They often tell me, provide us with reliable alternatives and we will come. (.) It equally responds to an ask by our citizens. They expect us to take measures that mitigate the risk for shocks and economic disruptions.
[00:03:10] That there is demand for more trade along the middle corridor, is perfectly evident. The routes to its north through Russia are severely impacted. The routes to the south are unreliable. (.) At the same time, the South Caucasus is emerging as a new pole of stability. And the election in Armenia has just shown that the path of peace and cooperation also has popular support. (.) Since 2022, trade along the route has increased by four times. We have seen European companies entering the market. They often use it to transport electronics, machinery, or industrial components between Europe and China. (.) And yet, we should not think of it as a simple road with Europe and China at opposite ends. It is an entry point to global trade for anyone along this corridor. Last September, for example, Kazakhstan shipped its first commercial export of wheat flour along this corridor all the way to New York. (.) [00:04:17] What is still holding this, this alternative route back, is shipping time and capacity. It can still take much too long. Sometimes up to 45 days to get from the border of China and Kazakhstan to Romania. (.) Up to 45 days. This is what we want to address. We want to cut it to just 15 days. That is much faster than any ship could reach Europe. (.) This is why we have conducted an extensive study to identify where we have bottlenecks to widen and gaps to fill. The study, which was based on the work of international partners and financial institutions, confirms what many in this room already know. With the right mix of investments and reforms, this corridor can meet our needs. (.) If we get this right, trade flows could triple by 2030 and increase fivefold by 2040. [00:05:18] And we are determined to get it right. Together with you. (.) This is what the Connectivity Agenda platform we are launching today is all about. It builds on the successful example of the Caspian Transport Corridor Coordination Platform, which started at the end of 2024 and helps structure cooperation between the EU and our partners in Central Asia. (.) The Connectivity Agenda platform will now take our cooperation along the whole corridor to the next level. It will help us link up individual initiatives and develop a shared vision for connectivity across the wider region. And it will help us build a pipeline of priority projects that truly matter.
It will also help to create conditions to mobilize capital at scales by bringing together governments, international financial institutions, and private investors around a shared investment agenda. (.) [00:06:19] It is great to see so many different countries represented in this room, exactly 26. Together, we form a bridge between Europe, South Caucasus, and Central Asia. (.) And together with international financial institutions, businesses, and investors, we can tackle the challenges our studies have identified. Many of those challenges are physical, such as missing links in rail and road networks, capacity constraints, and infrastructure gaps.
The Haukoulo-Kapikoulé railway project is such an example. (.) It is a modernization and high-speed rail project in Turkey that connects the western edge of Istanbul with the main rail border crossing into Bulgaria and the European Union. It will reduce travel times and increase freight capacity between Europe and Asia. (.) [00:07:20] Another example of removing physical barriers is the work we are doing in Ukraine and Moldova in upgrading the railway system. (.) For decades, their railway system has used different tracks from most of Europe. This difference creates a real barrier. (.) It costs a lot of time, as goods must be transferred from one system to another. (.) One of the projects we are signing today is with the European Investment Bank. We are preparing a new electrified European standard railway from Ungheni in Moldova at the Romanian border to Chisinau, the capital of the country. It would run alongside the existing line and connect it directly to a new freight terminal near the Moldovan capital. (.) All of these projects close missing links in our efforts to connect Europe and Asia through faster, safer and more reliable transport routes. Together with our Central Asian partners, we are also launching clean energy projects, [00:08:24] expanding digital networks and developing critical mineral supply chains.
Other challenges we need to tackle are the lack of regulatory nature, different border procedures, incompatible systems and other administrative delays. We are addressing this by aligning rules, connecting custom systems and moving more procedures online. (.) A good example is our work with the International Trade Center to extend existing and effective digital tools from Central Asia to our Eastern partners or the Customs and Logistics Center in Yerevan. We help construct. (.) They are making it easier and faster to process goods that cross borders. (.) And finally, we will use the Connectivity Agenda platform to work together in removing financial hurdles. (.) Today, we are signing projects with EU contribution of over 80 million euro, which can mobilize more than 2 billion euros in investments across transport, energy and digital connectivity. [00:09:32] And this is just the beginning. One such project is with FinFund, a Finnish impact investor that will help translate 40 million euro in EU guarantees into investments worth 800 million euros. (.) They will de-risk private sector investments that will support faster internet in rural and poorly connected areas, better local internet connections and new data centers. It will also support renewable energy, stronger electricity grids, better electricity, and energy storage systems. (.) This is yet another example how expanding trading routes can serve everyone along the way.
It is really extraordinary that in a world becoming more conflictual, we are together moving in the opposite direction, meaning coming together. (.) We are building trust and we are building opportunities that will serve each of us to diversify our trade routes and strengthen our independence.
[00:10:41] We have deemed that the JENPков’s strategy is for the community, the infrastructure and we are for the energy transition, and we are also seeing whole and in together lots of agricultural development. Now you will lose 15 minutes waiting or 10 minutes waiting for technology to work. This is the best part of this kind of meetings. I was having a really nice conversation with the Minister of Transport of Turkey, And we have been discussing, not trading routes, we have been discussing what kind of coffee do I make at home, because I make, and my mother taught me the Turkish coffee, and I was explaining my technology of making coffee, and the minister said that it is exactly how they do this in Turkey. But you also told me, dear Mr. Minister, that you say in Turkey that once you have Turkish coffee with somebody, the friendship with this person will last for 40 years.
So I take your invitation when I will visit Ankara at the end of this month to have this coffee with you. We all need this kind of Turkish coffee or any other coffee or any other drink to connect us. [00:11:45] Indeed, we can speak about trade. We can speak about digital connection. We can speak about how we need the highways. (.) But without the most important part, and this is people-to-people relations, we will not be able to do this. And that’s why it means so much to me to see all of you. Of course I know that business has its own interest. What? Earning the money. Of course I know that international financial institutions need our money to de-risk and so on. And we have some. But without coming together, you know, it makes no sense. There are so many initiatives, so many projects in different countries, in different regions. It makes no sense if we don’t connect. (.) And this is why this connectivity platform is so really, really important. If we do it clever, and this is the goal of this, we can really, really achieve a lot. (.) And I’m sure that this spirit will accompany us during the whole day.
[00:12:50] We will have the right forum to build on this together in the years ahead. And I’m really looking to an excellent cooperation. This is the first step. But many of the others will come. I can’t promise that I will come to every opening ceremony of different projects. But I will come to as much as possible. Because, you know, growing up in the area where we have been cut off from the rest of the world, in my previous country, I can tell you what it means to have connections to the world. What it means to learn different nations. What it means to go outside of your country and see how the others are doing and learning from this. And this is also what we want to do in the European Commission. We want to learn from all of you. We want to bring in our expertise and our money. But please, only together we can achieve something which will stay. [00:13:52] Forever. So let us do the best today to achieve these important goals. Thank you.
