BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 16. The opening of the Middle Corridor will provide opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enter new markets, Chair of the Small Business Investment Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Andrew McDonald said at the SME World Forum, held in Baku, Trend reports.
McDonald noted that currently, the opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses are quite large.
"Using the Middle Corridor opens up great opportunities for SMEs, because the flow increases, which gives more opportunities to enter markets that they could not get to before," he said.
The Middle Corridor connects the container rail freight transport networks of China and the countries of the EU through the countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye and Eastern Europe.
The multilateral multimodal transport infrastructure connects the ferry terminals of the Caspian and Black Seas with the railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.
In addition, the Middle Corridor contributes to increase in cargo traffic from China to Türkiye, as well as to European countries and in the opposite direction.
The block train running along this corridor delivers cargo from China to Europe in an average of 20–25 days. This is one of the main advantages of the transport corridor.
The EBRD has been cooperating with Azerbaijan since 1992 and is the country's leading investor. In general, the bank has invested over 3.61 billion euros in 188 projects in Azerbaijan.
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