BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. From the second half of this year, three more countries - Singapore, Bulgaria and Lithuania - will join the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) also known as Middle Corridor, Secretary General of the TITR Association Gaidar Abdikerimov said at the ASIA Grain Conference 2023 in Kazakhstan's Almaty, Trend reports via foreign media.
"In the next five years, about five billion euros will be invested in infrastructure and improving the efficiency of processes on the Middle Corridor. The TITR plays an important role in the integration of producers in Central Asia with global markets in the direction of Türkiye, North Africa and Southern Europe," Abdikerimov said.
He also mentioned that the initiators of the TITR were Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia.
"The purpose of this route is to ensure the transit of goods through countries such as China, and Kazakhstan, via the Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, Poland and Romania. These eight countries have been working on the project since 2017. From the second half of this year, Singapore, Bulgaria and Lithuania countries will join them. In addition, we expect Austria, Hungary and Germany to join as well. French freight forwarders are also very actively interested," he said.
Abdikerimov also said that the main direction for grain exports under the TITR is Türkiye, in particular the port of Mersin, where a large grain exchange is located, and which distributes the delivered products to the countries of the so–called Maghreb region in Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.
The total volume of cargo transportation by TITR in 2022 amounted to 1.48 million tons, which is 2.5 times, or 898,000 tons more than in 2021.