Motivation for Central Europe to focus on business development of the Caucasus region.

1. The relevance of the Silk Road
for Central Europe in the Third
Millenium
WORKSHOP
July 2nd 2009
Chamber of Commerce, Vienna

2. Agenda
 Central/Eastern Europe and Caucasus
 Caucasus region is on the crossroads between Europe and Asia
 Caucasus region represents a prospering market in its own right
 Caucasus & Central Europe – a case for cooperation ?
 Purpose of and motivation for EUCATI
 Identify barriers to cooperation and raise awareness
 Identification of project & business opportunities
 Focus on short & medium term initiatives
 Expectations for the conference
 exchange views and ideas about the EUCATI concept
 identify areas where action is required to go forward
 identify First Areas of Common Interest
 identify the structural requirements for the network
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3. Historical Silk Road
Multiple land based routes and sea lanes
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4. Railway junction …
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5. The North-South Corridor
A feasibility study of the UIC
 As few countries as possible
 The route has as few discontinues
points as possible
 The distance is as short as possible
 Focus on the railways, i.e. trains are
used where it is possible or railway
sections can be developed
 There are alternatives routes if the
main section fails
 The route is recommended by
organizations like the UN and
railway organizations like RZD, RAI,
IR and others)
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6. Oil and Gas Pipelines traversing the region
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7. Transportoptions Europe - Asia
Transsiberian
Railroad 14 days 11.500 km
Land based
Silk Road 10 days 10.500 km
Maritime sea
link Suez,
Gibraltar
35 days 24.000 km
 Only 1% of the 1 trillion $ Euro- Asian trade uses European - Asian land
based transport link
 Maritime transport cost are lower and the quality of service is higher
 Inadequate transport infrastructure, performing below its capacity
Source: Constantinos Alexopoulos, Euro-Asian Transport Links
(EATL) workshop: 27-29 April 2009, Teheran
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8. Tradevolumes CEE and China
Export & Import Volumes ( in 100 t )
Source: EUROSTAT, Extracted on 2009.07.01 15:26:43
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9. A comparison of economies 2008
Austria
Austria
Italy
Italy
Germany
Germany
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Georgia
China
China
India
India
Source: CIA World Fact Book (

10. Austrian Trade with Caucasus & Asia
Export & Import Volumes (tons)
Description 2006 2007 2008 Growth
2008/2006
Armenia 3.480 2.874 4.173 19,9 %
Azerbaijan 189.690 47.059 9.271 -95,1 %
China 740.733 955.112 965.024 30,3 %
Georgia 5.970 11.050 12.011 101,2 %
India 168.356 244.339 242.983 44,3 %
Kazakhstan 1.617.855 1.880.527 2.029.960 25,5 %
Turkmenistan 3.422 81.021 46.547 1260,3 %
Uzbekistan 16.983 17.710 32.052 88,7 %
Total 2.746.489 3.239.692 3.342.022
 Exports to CIS (Asia) amounted to 0,4% of total exports (value)
 Imports from CIS (Asia) to 0,7% of all imports
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11. Trade issues
 Safety, security, environmental and health concerns
• Military conflicts between countries
endanger people and cargo
• Environmental and health concerns
• Lacking Food Safety-Sanitary and Phyto-
sanitary Measures
 Time consuming border procedures and controls.
 An essential condition for improved transit times is the speed at which
customs and other border crossing formalities can be completed.
 Given the “in-transit” nature of the goods, it is important that the
customs authorities of the countries transited allow customs
clearances to take place at stations of origin and destination.
Source: Constantinos Alexopoulos, Euro-Asian Transport Links (EATL) workshop: 27-29 April 2009, Teheran
EPF workshop on Possible future Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA ), December 2009
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12. Doing Business 2009
Germany
Germany
Georgia
Georgia
Austria
Austria
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Source: „Doing Business 2009“ , World Bank, IFC and Polgrave
MacMillan, 2008
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13. Risks and imponderabilities …
Placeholder for your own subheadline
Challenges Stakeholders Existing Venues
 Accessability to current  International and  UN/ECE Trade Division
and future transport national financing  BAKU declaration
capacities  National and Regional  TRACEA
 Cross border trade & Politics
transport: trade  Regional, international,
facilitation supranational institutions
 Simplification of  Universities, Training
administrative processes Institutions
 Supply Chain Security  Business development
improvements and cooperations
 Regional economic  Cultural institutions
development
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14. A network of parties interested in cooperation in the region
 Identify barriers to cooperation and raise awareness
 Source to obtain support to raise and argue issues effecting the region
 Venue to develop cooperations in supranational institutions
 Identification of joint project & business opportunities
 Business development, transport, education & cultural sector
 Focus on short & medium term initiatives
 Project & Business development
 Identification of business & project partners
 Development of project & business plans
 Identification of sources for funding
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15. A network of parties interested in cooperation in the region
 To exchange views and ideas about the EUCATI concept
 Is there a basis for a common vision for CEE and the Caucasus ?
 To identify areas where action is required to go forward
 Which are the most pressing issues that require mitigation
 To identify first areas of common interest
 Academic cooperation, business opportunities & partners, …
 To identify the structural requirements for EUCATI
 Institutional and governance matters ...
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