Foreword

The OECD has worked on trade and transport connectivity across the Eurasian landmass since 2017, in close co-operation with the countries of the region, the International Transport Forum and other partners. Since February 2022, the connectivity landscape has changed drastically as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This report looks at one of the important international developments arising in response to that change: increasing attention to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the so-called “Middle Corridor”, which connects China to Europe via multimodal transport routes through Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the South Caucasus.

Until 2022, the vast bulk of overland freight transport from China to Europe passed through Russia (the Northern Corridor) using the railways from Russia’s Far East, with branches through Kazakhstan and Mongolia. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions disrupted the Northern Corridor. This has spurred renewed discussion of potential alternative land routes between China and the European Union, particularly the “Middle Corridor”.

The additional traffic on the Middle Corridor represents an opportunity for economic development in countries along the route. Yet congestion has worsened since 2022 at existing bottlenecks, and the route’s competitiveness is hampered by its challenging geography and its multimodal nature. The Middle Corridor crosses more land and maritime borders than the Northern Corridor, with diverging regulations, laws and requirements. Such a corridor requires intense collaboration, though no single co-ordination body currently exists for the route.

The OECD has prepared this analytical study to understand the challenges and opportunities in developing the Middle Corridor from the perspective of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. The goal of this report is to establish the conditions under which the Middle Corridor could represent a competitive and viable route for regional and trans-continental trade on the long run. In this respect, it maps and sequences the main reform priorities in relation to regional integration, infrastructure, trade facilitation, and supra-national co-ordination.

This report complements recent work on the development potential of the Middle Corridor from the perspective of the private sector and key public actors. To do so, the OECD conducted a policy consultation with more than 170 respondents to identify bottlenecks and needs in the four study countries. Qualitative interviews complemented a survey to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by governments and users of the Middle Corridor. These inputs guided the work presented here.