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Nazrin Abdul

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Azerbaijan is increasingly proving that its economic significance extends far beyond oil and gas. Historically positioned at the crossroads of East and West, the country has long served as a reliable trade partner and a natural transit hub. Today, Azerbaijan is leveraging this geographic advantage to catalyze the development of the Middle Corridor or the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, a strategic transcontinental transport route connecting Asia and Europe. As global supply chains face disruptions and congestion in traditional corridors, the Middle Corridor is emerging as a viable, faster, and more secure alternative, reflecting both the region’s economic ambition and its capacity for international cooperation.

On October 21, the “Middle Corridor Development” project was presented with the participation of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The leaders received detailed briefings on the project, highlighting its current impact and its potential for future growth. Shipments from China to Azerbaijan along the corridor are steadily increasing, with projections suggesting a threefold rise by 2030 compared to today’s levels, underscoring the corridor’s strategic importance for intercontinental trade.

The Middle Corridor is not merely about constructing roads, railways, and ports. According to IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto, sustainable development of the corridor requires investment in “soft” infrastructure: digital platforms, harmonized regulations, streamlined customs procedures, and operational transparency.

“Infrastructure alone is not enough. Efficient cross-border transport requires eliminating bottlenecks at borders, reducing administrative delays, and removing unofficial payments or excessive checks,” de Pretto noted at the International Transport Forum in Tashkent. “Without these measures, the potential of the corridor cannot be fully realized.”

This insight highlights a fundamental analytical point: physical infrastructure drives capacity, but soft infrastructure determines efficiency, reliability, and ultimately the corridor’s competitiveness against maritime and Northern alternatives.

Countries along the corridor are increasingly focusing on digital solutions to optimize transit flows. Kazakhstan’s “Smart Cargo” platform exemplifies this trend, offering a unified system for managing multimodal shipments from Central Asia to Europe. By integrating logistics operators, port authorities, and rail operators onto a single digital platform, the project reduces transit times, increases predictability, and facilitates real-time monitoring.

Simultaneously, Azerbaijan has expanded cooperation with China through the Port of Xi’an, opening a 20,000 TEU container yard and enabling real-time access to port operating systems. This has translated into measurable outcomes: in the first nine months of 2025, Azerbaijan handled 296 block trains, including 113 transit trains, marking a 39% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Container cargo volumes rose 20%, reaching 103,134 TEU, demonstrating the tangible impact of coordinated operational improvements on corridor throughput.

The Middle Corridor faces a range of regional and operational challenges that require coordinated solutions:

- Regulatory differences across countries can create delays in cargo movement. Efforts toward harmonization and digital management systems are essential to streamline transit.

- Infrastructure constraints, including limited container handling capacity at ports and aging rail networks, continue to require targeted investment.

- Ensuring secure and efficient transit operations remains key to maintaining confidence among shippers and supporting timely deliveries.

Regional stakeholders are actively addressing these challenges. Kazakhstan’s investment in Caspian ports, Azerbaijan’s collaboration with Chinese partners, and the modernization of the Baku -Tbilisi-Kars railway demonstrate a shared commitment to turning the corridor into a high-capacity, reliable alternative. From an analytical perspective, the corridor’s success depends on balancing infrastructure expansion, regulatory reform, and digital management, a strategy that could redefine Eurasian trade dynamics.

The Middle Corridor’s growth signals more than improved logistics; it represents a geopolitical and economic realignment. By strengthening the corridor, Azerbaijan and its partners are enhancing regional connectivity, diversifying global transit options, and building resilience against disruptions in maritime or Northern routes.

For Azerbaijan, the corridor reinforces its historical role as a bridge between continents. Strategically, it positions the country not just as an energy exporter, but as a key facilitator of Eurasian trade, combining infrastructure, technology, and governance to create a competitive and sustainable transit corridor.

In analytical terms, the corridor’s development is both a supply chain optimization strategy and a tool of economic diplomacy, as it brings together multiple countries under a shared vision of seamless, secure, and high-volume transit. The Middle Corridor is no longer a concept—it is a functional artery linking Asia and Europe, with Azerbaijan at its heart.