Ex-US Ambassador: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia play crucial role in Middle Corridor

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia play an important role as transit routes for the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM or Middle Corridor), William Courtney, a senior fellow at the RAND Corporation and former US ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia, told Trend.

"The role of the Middle Corridor is growing for several reasons, including the recent increased political risk of shipping through Russia," he emphasised.

Western sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine have limited Russia's access to European rail transport routes, Courtney noted.

"Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia play a crucial role as transit routes for the Middle Corridor. Chinese investment is also important to modernise transport infrastructure and deliver goods through this route," he said.

He said the main difficulty of the Middle Corridor is the lack of intermodal transport and its high cost.

"More barges are required on the Caspian Sea, as well as increasing the capacity of Georgia's container ports on the Black Sea. The railway infrastructure along the Middle Corridor needs improvement. Privatisation of the railway systems could attract more private capital and technology," the former ambassador added.

The Middle Corridor links containerised rail freight networks of China and the European Union via Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye and Eastern Europe.

The multilateral multimodal transport infrastructure links the ferry terminals of the Caspian and Black Seas with the railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine and Poland.

The Middle Corridor facilitates increased cargo traffic from China to Türkiye, as well as to European countries and vice versa.

A route train travelling along this corridor delivers cargo from China to Europe in an average of 20-25 days, and this is one of the main advantages of this transport corridor.