Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan launch undersea fibre-optic link, Tokayev says

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are launching a fibre-optic line beneath the Caspian Sea to improve data connections across Eurasia, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Thursday.

“Today Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are marking an important milestone by jointly launching the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic line beneath the Caspian Sea,” Tokayev told a summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku.

He said the project, part of the “Digital Silk Way”, would enable faster and more secure data transmission across Eurasia and strengthen Asia’s digital infrastructure.

Tokayev did not specify whether the announcement marked the start of commercial operations or give details of the line’s capacity or cost.

He also proposed that CICA members jointly develop a transport connectivity strategy covering major international routes, including the Middle Corridor, the International North-South Transport Corridor and TRACECA.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan also intend to increase shipments of Kazakh crude through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, he said, without specifying volumes or a timetable.
 

Gulnar