ASTANA – The Middle Corridor is gaining strategic importance as countries across Central Asia and the South Caucasus seek to strengthen trade connectivity and diversify transport routes between Asia and Europe, experts said during a Sept. 15 British-Kazakh Society (BKS) Trade Group webinar on Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan-Middle Corridor Investments, Operations & Trade.
The webinar brought together experts from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom (UK) to discuss investment, operations, regional cooperation and the corridor’s development. “The Middle Corridor is really maturing politically faster than it’s maturing operationally,” said Assylbek Nurgabdeshov, Assistant Professor of Strategy and director of Strategy Postgraduate Programs at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University.
He noted that the route remains a multimodal system involving railways, ports, ferries and road networks across several jurisdictions. Improving coordination among the countries involved is therefore essential to its development. “Reliability is the key aspect” for companies considering the route, Nurgabdeshov said, stressing the importance of predictable operations and long-term sustainability.
According to Nurgabdeshov, the UK could contribute through financial, legal and institutional expertise rather than directly building the corridor. “UK’s main role will be to shape how it functions rather than to build the corridor,” he said. Ahmad Alili, director of the Caucasus Policy Analysis Center in Baku, described the Middle Corridor as a “geopolitical necessity,” arguing that closer cooperation between the South Caucasus and Central Asia will become increasingly important.
He pointed to growing contacts between Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries, including cooperation in transport, trade and other areas, as part of a broader regional integration process. Arzu Abbasova, research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute’s Center for Finance and Security, said geopolitical developments have made connectivity a strategic issue extending beyond trade.
“The war in Ukraine, the uncertainty in Iran, in the maritime trade routes, and the competition around the critical minerals and technology and supply chains have all made this connectivity very much of a strategic issue rather than a purely commercial one,” she said.
The experts also discussed digitalization, Caspian Sea infrastructure and Kazakhstan’s use of alternative routes for oil exports.