ArmInfo. The European Union will continue to study the expectations of the Armenian side in the framework of the EU transport initiative, the basis of which is TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network) with a total budget of 13 billion euros.
On this, answering the question of ArmInfo, said the head of the EU delegation, Ambassador Piotr Switsalski on February 26 at a meeting with journalists. According to the diplomat, the initiative is comprehensive and future-oriented. It is within this policy that the construction of roads and railways, seaports and logistics centers is planned. The main idea of this initiative, as the European diplomat pointed out, is in a peculiar mix. That is, the EU, as before, provides grant funds that, with other financial instruments and resources offered by international lenders, can be used to increase capacity in a particular area. Meanwhile, as the diplomat explained, this TEN-T program can become part of another financial instrument - the EU External Investment Plan, in which private investors can also take part.
Today, as Piotr Switsalski: pointed out, the program is inconclusive and can be expanded. "The figures that are presented today are conditional, since they are based on a preliminary estimate," the ambassador said. The EU representatives with the Armenian partners at this stage are discussing the possible inclusion of new projects in the program. Armenia, like other beneficiaries of the program - the Eastern Partnership countries can come up with new ideas. "In the process of discussions, new opportunities can be created and new projects generated. Thus, this is not a closed book - we are open to new ideas and mature projects that may qualify for funding," he explained.
According to the ambassador, of 6 projects previously announced in Armenia, 3 were approved, for example, the Meghri checkpoint modernization program for more than 10 million euros, the construction of the Lanzhik-Gyumri highway, which is part of the construction of the North-South transport corridor.
Earlier, ArmInfo reported that the European Union will provide Armenia with a loan in the amount of more than 700 million euros for the implementation of infrastructure projects. According to the report, posted on the website of the European Commission, the credit resources allocated to Armenia will be part of the EU's overall assistance to countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.
The total budget of the program, which will be funded jointly by the European Union and the World Bank, will be 13 billion euros. The project involves the construction of roads and railways with a total length of 4,800 kilometers, as well as the development of 6 ports, airports, 11 logistics centers and checkpoints.In Brussels, they believe that the development of infrastructure in the Eastern Partnership countries will contribute to economic growth in these countries and the creation of new jobs. Priority investments include both short-term projects that will be completed by 2020, and long-term projects aimed at improving transport links in the framework of TEN-T until 2030.Note that since January 2014, the European Union has developed a new transport policy, the basis of which is TEN-T - the Trans-European Transport Network. The purpose of the new policy is quite ambitious - to connect the continent both from the West to the East and from North to the South, or quoting European Commissioner Siim Kallas, <insert the necessary sections of the transport network to the right places, thereby creating a single network instead of the existing transport mosaic. If this strategy is implemented successfully, then already in 2050, a trip around the EU will take an average of half an hour, and the new transport network will connect 94 ports, 38 airports, as well as 15 thousand kilometers of modernized high-speed railways. For TEN-T implementation, there has been allocated more than 24 billion euros.