Top row (left) Nargis Kassinova, (right) Yunis Sharifli. Bottom row (left) Temur Umarov, (right) Samuel Doveri Vesterbye

 

Middle Corridor – a New Silk Road – Offers Faster Trade Route from the East to Europe

By Elaine Pasquini

 

Washington: The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, better known as the Middle Corridor, was the subject of a March 4, 2025, virtual program hosted by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.

Launched in 2013 by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye, the trade corridor from Southeast Asia and China to Europe is the shortest route between the East and West. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the project became urgent as it would provide an alternative to the traditional Northern Corridor crossing Russia. 

Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, managing director of the European Neighborhood Council, noted the economic importance of the Central Asian region which offers renewable energy and gas, critical raw materials – including uranium – skilled labor, high literacy rate and female employment, along with a very youthful population which is the oppositive demographics of Europe and other regions of the world.

While the United States has been slow to engage with the former Soviet republics, the Chinese view their western neighbors as a source of energy, supply chains and minerals, Vesterbye said.

The European Union, however, is interested in partnering with the region in order to create a form of Central Asian regional integration with various degrees of technology transfer, local processing and usage of minerals, not only for export, but also for industrial output.

In addition, the EU views the Middle Corridor as a reliable land route that connects Europe to the Asian, Chinese and Indian markets in contrast to maritime transit routes through the Suez Canal, Red Sea and Persian Gulf which periodically suffer major disruptions. “A trade diversification or trade strategic autonomy is also how this Middle Corridor is being viewed today from a strategic point of view,” he said. “The most autonomous trade corridor which exists in the world is the Middle Corridor.”

Russia, which shares a 7,644-kilometer border with the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, has essentially gone through a total decay economically and militarily over the last many years, he added. As a result “it does not really have the leverage in the region anymore as it used to.”

Yunis Sharifli, an independent foreign policy specialist, said the Middle Corridor has emerged for China as an alternative to the Russian route which became untenable due to the growing sanctions on Russia, thus indirectly affecting the railroad operations and increasing uncertainty which discouraged international companies from using the Russian route.

The long-used maritime route, on which China has depended, has become an economic and geopolitical risk, Sharifli said, and, since 2022, the country has intensified efforts to diversify its land-based trade corridors. The Middle Corridor emerged as one of the most important options because it goes through relatively stable countries. Along with Russia, “the Southern Corridor which goes through Iran is also under sanctions,” he noted. “So, the Middle Corridor is a good option.”

The existence of local stakeholders in the project is also important to China, Sharifli pointed out. Since 2022, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan have invested their domestic logistical capacity in order to develop hard and soft infrastructure, such as railways, ports, along with tariffs and customs.

The growing interest from the European Union countries and European Union-related institutions is also important because the Chinese prefer to engage with different shareholders with the aim of reducing the financial risk particularly with regard to development of the Middle Corridor.

Most importantly, due to the joint effort of regional and European countries, sending cargo via the Middle Corridor is more cost effective, he added.

With respect to infrastructure investment in the Middle Corridor, China targeted port development, including a critical ports project for Georgia because it will boost the Black Sea coast section of the trade route.

Last year, China and Kazakhstan signed a new agreement on jointly investing to build an intermodal terminal at Aktau Port, indicating China’s interest in the development of the port on the Caspian coast. And, recently China signed an agreement on jointly building an intermodal terminal in Alat Port in Azerbaijan.

“So, as you saw in the Black Sea coast and also in the Caspian, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are port countries and China is directly invested in the development of these ports,” Sharifli said. “The main aim is to reduce the congestion, traffic problem and increase efficiency and increase the country’s handling capacity.”

Ports are an integral component of the Middle Corridor project, but they need hard infrastructure and a large handling capacity to avoid major issues.

Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center, stressed the importance of the Middle Corridor giving China an alternative to the existing trade routes that it has with European markets.

One economic reason for China’s interest in its Central Asian partnerships, he pointed out, is its large Belt and Road infrastructure projects that are generally seen as China’s instrument to increase its global influence.

Central Asian countries had a vision of the rejuvenation of their ancient Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected Europe, India and China from the second century BCE to the mid-15th century. The fact that China has used those narratives in creating this economic Silk Road in the new century has also played an impactful role on the success of the Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia, Umarov said. “We should keep in mind that Belt and Road is something that leaderships in Central Asian countries wanted from the very beginning.”

In conclusion, moderator Nargis Kassinova, director of the Central Asia program at the Davis Center, said that in order to revitalize the historic Silk Road, “I think we need to be forward-looking.”

(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)