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Eurasian summit calls for new global economic order

Xinhua, April 5, 2017 Adjust font size:

The 20th Eurasian Economic Summit opened Wednesday with a call for the establishment of a new global economic order in a way to protect free trade principles and individual wealth.

"This vision will undoubtedly address not only the economy but also prosperity and happiness," Ibrahim Caglar, head of Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, said at the opening session of the summit.

"For this, it is necessary for countries in Eurasia to take firm steps toward regional economic integration," he said.

Speaking of the important developments in the last 100 years, Caglar noted that new technologies and communications have progressed at an extraordinary pace while Eurasia has never lost its strategic priorities in the process.

"This vast geography has a strategic place in the world's politics and economy in terms of geopolitical developments, population, energy resources and global trade points," he said.

He urged regional countries to tap more the power of Eurasia and its dynamism "in the name of the future of mankind."

Other speakers highlighted the importance of large transnational projects that have been constructed under the New Silk Road and the Belt and Road Initiatives in improving regional and global economic cooperation.

In this context, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway now nearing completion emerges as a critical project that would connect Asia and Europe.

The railway is expected to carry 1 million passengers and 6 million tons of freight annually in the middle term, according to media reports. By 2034 it is projected to carry 3 million passengers and 17 million tons of cargo.

Akkan Suver, president of the Marmara Group Foundation, host of the summit, urged participant countries to make progress in creating sea routes in the development of a new Silk Road.

Referring to the fact that China chose Greece's Piraeus port as the main center in the new Silk Road in Europe, he said it will not be enough if not supported by Turkish ports in the future.

Stressing that Turkey places great importance on China's Belt and Road project that encompasses 65 countries with a gross domestic product of 21 trillion U.S. dollars, Suver called for bilateral cooperation in the Aegean Sea.

Politicians, academicians and civil society pioneers from over 40 countries are attending the two-day summit, which will also address the issues of migration and terrorism. Endit