BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 28. The World Bank (WB) published on its website 10 priority actions, which can triple trade along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor (TITR, or Middle Corridor) by 2030, this week, Trend reports.
According to WB experts, improvements in the corridor's functioning will contribute to economic prosperity by stimulating trade, creating jobs, and fostering entrepreneurship, and a combination of investments (for railway, intermodal, and maritime infrastructure modernization) and the implementation of measures to enhance the efficiency of this route could halve transit times along this corridor and triple trade flows by 2030.
The main listed priorities relate to work in Türkiye, Kazakhstan and Georgia.
On April 22, the Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan Rashad Nabiyev hosted a Georgian delegation in Baku.
Discussions between Nabiyev and theincluded the development of the Middle Corridor, particularly its digitalization.
The "Multimodal Transport and Transit Forum" organized by the RDL international group of companies took place in Tbilisi on April 23-24, focusing on the development of the Middle Corridor and the elimination of bottlenecks.
The North-South route was also discussed at the forum.
The development of international transport corridors in the region was also at the center of attention on April 24 during a meeting between the Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan Samir Mammadov, and the Regional Director for the Caucasus of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Alkis Vriennios Drakinos.
The parties discussed the initial draft of the bank's new country strategy for Azerbaijan for 2024-2029, which includes the transport sector.
On the same day, April 24, the Azerbaijan International Road Carriers Association (ABADA) and the National Association of Oversized and Heavy Cargo Carriers of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum to promote the Middle Corridor.
Hungary was also announced to have an interest in the Middle Corridor, as indicated in the Protocol signed on April 25 in Baku following the 10th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary.
It was announced that Hungary intends to play a more active role in the development of the Middle Corridor.
This week, Wilhelmsen Port Services teamed up with the AD Ports Group and Inveco LLC to strengthen trade along the Middle Corridor.
The three companies agreed on the principles of operating the dry port in Tbilisi (handling dry cargo), as this port is scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Located along the Middle Corridor, this port is intended to facilitate regional transit of containers, vehicles, and various goods along the Middle Corridor.
Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Taihe analytical institute Din Jianwei said that in the foreseeable future, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (also known as the Middle Corridor) will enter a new cycle of accelerated development and become a major new trade route in Eurasia and an important part of the global supply chain.
Moreover, an increasing number of countries will participate in this transport route, and the volume of freight transportation will significantly increase.
It was revealed that Azerbaijan assigns an important role in the Middle Corridor to the Baku International Sea Trade Port (BISTP).
In an interview with Euronews, the port's head Taleh Ziyadov pointed to BISCP's clear ambitions to adapt, grow and meet growing global trade needs.
He reminded that last year, the total volume of transhipment at BISTP exceeded 7.3 million tons (an increase of 51 percent over three years), the speed of cargo processing has increased, and there is scope for increasing cargo flow.
BISTP Executive Director Eugene Seah, in an interview with Euronews journalists, noted that technology development, digitalization and automation take an important place on the port’s development agenda.
According to him, BISTP is implementing environmental sustainability measures to reduce the impact on the environment and ecosystem.
Seah said the port plans to reduce emissions to zero within 15-20 years, confirming its title as a 'green port' in the Caspian Sea.
This same week, the topic of international transport corridors was raised at the highest level, in particular during the meeting in Moscow on April 22 between the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The parties considered it important to increase the capacity of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
Following the meeting, the Minister of Transport of Russia Vitaly Savelyev noted that cargo flow along the INSTC can in the future reach up to 60-100 million tons, depending on demand.
The same week it became known that Russia began testing the capabilities of a single water route as part of the development of the INSTC, according to the Russian Export Center.
A dry cargo ship of three thousand tons (with a cargo of barley) was sent from the Volgograd region along the Volga and Caspian Sea in the direction of one of the northern ports of Iran.
Based on the results of this voyage, specific proposals will be formed for the development of an integrated water route within the INSTC.
Deputy Minister of Industry, Trade and Energy of the Astrakhan Region Mikhail Kabakov said that the INSTC participating countries are assessing the benefits of a possible connection of this route with Africa by sea, starting from the Volga.
According to him, the prospect of ships calling at ports in the east of the African continent and including them in the INSTC is being studied.
Russian Transport Minister Savelyev also announced details of work on the railway project on the territory of Azerbaijan and Iran as part of the development of the INSTC this week.
According to him, the point was about the Rasht-Astara railway section with a length of 162 kilometers.
The minister expressed hope that this section of Rasht-Astara will be completed in 2027-2028.
The same week, Russian statistics on the operation of its ports were released. Thus, the total volume of cargo turnover of the Caspian ports of Astrakhan, Olya and Makhachkala in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to 2.2 million tons, which is 40.4 percent more year on year.
The work of these ports is taken into account in the development of the INSTC.
The "Zarifa Aliyeva" RoPax-type ferry ship of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) JSC has made 332 trips since its commissioning.
During this time the vessel transported 11,780 trucks, 1,742 passenger cars, 11,350 passengers, and 305 railcars.
This week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published forecasts for the development of the electric vehicle industry in the world. The agency expects global electric vehicle sales to reach 17 million units in 2024, up from 14 million electric vehicle sales in 2023 (an increase of 35 percent by 2022).
Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan Samir Mammadov said at the 10th meeting of the Azerbaijani-Hungarian intergovernmental commission in Baku on April 25, that currently flights between Baku and Budapest are carried out three times a week, but there is an opportunity to increase the frequency of flights.
He also called on Hungarian companies to cooperate in the field of transport, in particular in the development of the Middle Corridor, which is important for the EU.
A source in Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku said this week that the airport has served more than 36 million passengers in 10 years.
According to the source, the total capacity of Baku Airport is nine million people per year; it passes 15,000 passengers and operates over 130 flights every day.