Aliyev and Tokayev connect two shores of the Caspian Sea

On 15 October, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. During the talks, both sides expressed satisfaction with the successful development of strategic partnership and allied relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The leaders noted that visits by the heads of state had made an important contribution to expanding bilateral cooperation.

They stressed that the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), taking place in Baku, was organised at a high level. The two presidents then held an online ceremony to open the Trans-Caspian fibre-optic cable line.

The project, implemented by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan under the Digital Silk Way initiative, runs along the Caspian Sea bed between Sumgayit and Aktau and spans about 380 kilometres. Its capacity exceeds 400 terabits per second. The route will carry data from China and Central Asia to Europe via Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia, then onward through the Black Sea or Turkey. Tokayev called it a new type of corridor, while Aliyev said it would strengthen cooperation between Central Asia and the South Caucasus.