BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 14. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are actively involved in the development of Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, or Middle Corridor), Elvira Mami, Senior Economic and Risk Analyst at the Overseas Development Institute, told Trend.
"One example is that the countries, along with Georgia, are forming a joint venture to promote multimodal services along the Trans-Caspian International Transportation Route. We can also see the development of strategic collaboration in oil transit between the countries, as well as agreements on digitalizing the corridor," she said.
As the expert noted, the Middle Corridor provides an important alternative route for companies that want to bypass the Northern Route due to sanctions.
"Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, a substantial percentage of trade between China and Europe has relocated to the Middle Corridor, however due to operational issues on the Middle Corridor route, some cargo has switched to sea transit. Currently, the corridor has the ability to solve these operational challenges as a result of initiatives being done to increase its capacity. Nonetheless, it won't be able to replace the Northern Corridor route because its capacity is still less than ten percent of the Northern Corridor," Mami added.
The Middle Corridor is a transportation and commerce route that connects Asia and Europe via various nations in the region. It is an alternate route to the traditional Northern and Southern Corridors.
The route begins in China and passes via Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. It then travels via the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey before reaching Europe.
The Middle Corridor provides a land route that connects eastern Asia, including China, to Europe, skipping the longer sea routes.