Digitalization - Key To Investment Decisions Along Middle Corridor

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. Harmonization and digitalization are important factors for investment decisions along the Middle Corridor, said Claire Kaiser, Head of Strategy and Senior Managing Director, Eurasia, at McLarty Associates.

She made the remarks during the seventh annual Caspian Business Forum held by the Caspian Policy Center (CPC) in New York.

She discussed how recent geopolitical shocks have simultaneously increased investor caution and underscored the importance of the Caspian region for diversified supply chains and connectivity.

“The war in Ukraine, the war in Iran, external shocks of these magnitudes push foreign investors towards caution, necessarily so,” Kaiser said.“However, they also work to underscore the urgency and importance that this region's role could really play in terms of supply chain and transit diversification, digital connectivity, and many other sectoral needs.”

Kaiser stressed that the challenge now is translating growing political and commercial attention into viable investments.“The real question is whether the region and its partners can convert this enthusiasm and optimism into concrete and bankable positions before the very unique geopolitical inflection point we find ourselves in,” she said.

Drawing on the development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Kaiser noted that major regional projects have historically required political vision before investment followed.“The vision came first; the capital followed,” she said, arguing that the region can draw on those lessons today. Kaiser also highlighted harmonization and digitalization along the expanding Middle Corridor as increasingly important factors in facilitating investment decisions.

The Middle Corridor is a transport and trade route passing through a number of countries in the region and connecting Asia with Europe. It serves as an alternative to the traditional Northern and Southern Corridors. The route begins in China and runs through the countries of Central Asia. It then crosses the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye, before reaching Europe. The Middle Corridor is a land route that bypasses longer sea routes, connecting eastern regions of Asia, including China, with Europe.

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