The Middle Corridor could become a major economic opportunity for Europe as well, if only it recognised its advantages and cost-effectiveness instead of seeing it merely as an alternative transit route for China. Europe’s view of the Middle Corridor is rather narrow, as highlighted by an analysis by logistics consultant Irina Birman reported by the specialist portal RailFreight.com. European countries, together with their institutions and EU companies, show limited large-scale engagement with the Middle Corridor, apart from a few exceptions, such as MSC and Maersk, which have understood its potential. Europe, by contrast, risks missing this opportunity unless it develops this relationship with greater commitment and awareness.
The Middle Corridor, or Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, is a 4,000-kilometre multimodal trade route linking China to Europe through Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. This route can offer a faster alternative to northern corridors and extends across rail and maritime links, with the aim of stimulating trade, connectivity and infrastructure development, not least because it crosses a region that is home to almost 100 million people.
It is reductive to view the Middle Corridor only as a point-to-point link between Europe and China, as it can connect the economies and markets of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia, countries that represent trading partners with enormous potential still largely unexplored by Unione Europea. These countries have now understood the opportunities that can arise from being part of this route and are actively working to develop terminals and logistics centres, where international cooperation plays a key role. Uzbekistan, for example, which is landlocked, benefits from its synergy with Georgia, which can connect its Black Sea ports to the network. Even more significant is the fact that some Central Asian countries are investing in Europe, such as Kazakhstan’s railways, which, together with Chinese partners, are developing an intermodal terminal near the Hungarian capital Budapest.
This activism should not overshadow the need to strengthen and modernise infrastructure that is still missing or insufficient and remains an obstacle in some areas. Many sections of the Middle Corridor are being upgraded or have already been improved, but there is still considerable room for progress. The route also still faces several bureaucratic and customs bottlenecks that need to be overcome through better cross-border coordination. According to the analysis reported by RailFreight.com, however, it is moving in the right direction: transit times have fallen, links using Caspian Sea routes have increased and economic investment from China has grown.
By contrast, Europe appears to have taken a passive stance, continuing to remain a spectator and risking the loss of an opportunity to position itself as a leading player in the Central Asian market, rather than viewing the region merely as a place of transit. But perhaps this is not entirely surprising, since Unione Europea (European Union) is not a single political and economic actor, as was clear from the difficulty of formulating a shared plan such as the one known as NextGenerationEU.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
