TASIM/EuraCA New Platforms for Improving Connectivity in Eurasia

What is TASIM? Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway Project is a major initiative aimed at improving connectivity in Eurasia and establishing new fiber- optic telecommunications transit routes between Europe and Asia.

UN GA Resolutions on On December 21, 2009, the 64 th session of the UN GA adopted Resolution on TASIM 2 nd UN GA resolution of December 21, 2012 (A/Res/67/194) renewed support to the TASIM 3 rd UN GA resolution of 4 th September 2013 (A/Res/67/298), unanimously supported creation of Eurasian Connectivity Alliance (EuraCA)

Major Project Benefits and Strategic Objectives Improved regional and global connectivity Route diversification Improved disaster resiliency Bridging digital divide and contribution to MDGs Low latency (information travels on the network faster) – important for Finance and ICT industries Contribution to regional innovation and modernization

Uniqueness 1 st of this kind world-wide in terms New major terrestrial route connecting Asia and Geographic scope – about 11k High social and development impacts for each participating country and globally.

TASIM Ring topology is planned, despite initial business focus on transit In Central Asia regions, there are future network expansion plans based on mesh TASIM will improve global resiliency by offering a terrestrial-only alternative to major submarine routes connecting Asia and Europe via North America;

TASIM Topology

From Frankfurt to Hong Kong The project is aimed at building a major new transit route Frankfurt-Hong Kong. This route will connect major international exchange points in Europe and Asia. We plan that the transit route will pass China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and then countries of Eastern Europe on the way to Germany. A redundancy northern route passing Russia, Ukraine and Poland is also considered. All intermediary points on the routes (Points of Presents) can also be connected to each other, for example Baku to Almaty, or Istanbul to Kiev.

Nexus of regional telecom interconnectivity TASIM will build its own active, centrally managed network on top of existing fiber-optic networks provided by participating operators. This will ensure end-to-end quality and reliability of the network High-capacity networks (several Tb/s) Integrated into global Tier 1 networks

Planned Consortium: 10 Azerbaijan China Kazakhstan Russia Turkey

Stage 1: Consortium operators will build modern transit and transport infrastructure, connecting the Europe and Asia. This will allow TASIM to become commercially viable and address the rapidly growing market for international internet Stage 2: Modernized transit infrastructure will provide affordable connectivity to countries of Eurasia, particularly the land-locked countries of Central Asia.

What is EuraCA? A Platform Promote policy dialogue and raise Facilitate experience and knowledge Promote international cooperation (governments, UN system organizations, IFI, regional groupings)

EuraCA’s Mission Cross-national services, information and content exchange Affordable broadband connectivity within Eurasia East2West Trans-Eurasian continuity

EuraCA’s Goals Contributing to the creation of an open information society in the region by increasing the speed of Internet connection and the number of Internet services; Supporting economic diversification and competition by creating new ICT enterprises and sectors in the field of software engineering and creative industries; Facilitating the emergence of new intra- and inter-regional cooperation spaces, for example in the field of trade and entrepreneurial development; Creating a common multi-stakeholder platform for high-level policy dialogue within Eurasia to tackle complex issues regarding the social impact of ICTs; Establishing common channels of best practice exchange and learning based on the experience of EuraCA partner countries and individual organizations.

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