How The Middle Corridor Meets North-South In Azerbaijan's New Trade Strategy

A few years ago, talk about Eurasian transport corridors mostly came down to finding the shortest route between Asia and Europe. Today, with global trade being reshaped, with higher demands on supply-chain security, and with countries wanting to diversify their routes, it's the whole system of transport links that matters.

Azerbaijan holds a special place in this new geography. Over the past few years, by carrying out large-scale infrastructure projects along the East-West and North-South corridors, the country has turned into a reliable logistics hub for the region. Its geographic position and the strategic projects it implements have made Azerbaijan an important transport partner across the Greater Eurasian space, and freight volumes keep growing year after year.

At first glance, North–South and the Middle Corridor look like completely different projects.

The International North-South Transport Corridor is aimed above all at moving goods between India, the Gulf states, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and, further on, Northern Europe. The Middle Corridor works on a different geography. It connects China and Central Asia with the South Caucasus, Türkiye and European markets. Its backbone is made up of rail and road routes, the sea crossing over the Caspian, and onward movement through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye toward Europe.

In recent years, Azerbaijan has steadily pursued a policy aimed at turning itself from a transit country into a logistics and transport hub with far broader functions. Billions of dollars invested in railways, highways, port infrastructure, logistics centres and digital solutions are already starting to produce real results. According to the State Statistics Committee, from January to May of this year, 6,159.7 thousand tons of cargo were carried by rail along Azerbaijan's international transport corridors, 4,731 thousand tons by road, and 2,652.5 thousand tons by sea. Rail therefore accounted for 45.5% of total freight, road for 34.9%, and sea for 19.6%. Compared with the same period last year, rail traffic rose by 3.3% and road traffic by 5.9% - which is seen as a sign of growing demand for Azerbaijan's transit capacity.

Earlier, President Ilham Aliyev, in his address to participants of the 2nd Azerbaijan International Investment Forum, highlighted Azerbaijan's growing role in the evolving transport and economic architecture of Eurasia.

"Located at the intersection of the East-West and North-South corridors, Azerbaijan has become an important link and gateway between Asia and Europe. The Middle Corridor links Central Asia across the Caspian Sea with the South Caucasus, Türkiye and Europe, while the emerging Zangezur Corridor, also known as the TRIPP connectivity route, will further strengthen Azerbaijan's role as a regional hub, and create new opportunities for trade, investment and industrial cooperation across Eurasia," the Azerbaijani leader said.

Because of the ongoing conflicts in the northern part of the region, European countries are increasingly sending their trade flows toward Asia through Azerbaijani territory. As a result, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route [Middle Corridor] has taken on particular importance in recent years. At the CAMCA Regional Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov even pointed out that it is possible to triple trade along the Middle Corridor and halve transit times by 2030. According to him, the development of the Port of Alat, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Azerbaijan's shipbuilding industry, as well as investments in ports and relevant terminals abroad, were all part of this strategy.

Azerbaijan also has great potential for developing the North–South corridor. The Russia-Azerbaijan railway line is already up and running, and linking it to Iran's railways would form a broad logistics artery stretching from Northern Europe to the Indian Ocean.

In the future, building the Zangezur Corridor could widen the possibilities for the transport corridors that run through Azerbaijan. Its significance lies not only in creating a more direct link between Azerbaijan's mainland and Nakhchivan. The new route could become an additional link between the existing transport networks while also strengthening the South Caucasus' connection with Türkiye, Central Asia and European markets. It is also worth mentioning that the whole region stands to gain from this. On top of that, it could improve relations between Türkiye and Armenia. Under the plans, the route across Armenian territory is meant to connect Azerbaijan's western districts with Nakhchivan and then provide an outlet to Türkiye. In a broader sense, it could complement the already working infrastructure of the Middle Corridor and create new options for moving goods between East and West.

For the North-South corridor, the Zangezur Corridor could also be a major advantage. After all, it's worth recalling that in the Soviet period the railways through this area connected to Iran via Nakhchivan-Julfa. This route could be restored and developed in the future. Expanding the North-South corridor both along the Astara-Rasht line and through the Zangezur Corridor would increase Azerbaijan's transit potential even further.

According to President Ilham Aliyev, the opening of the Zangezur Corridor could provide an additional railway connection between Azerbaijan and Iran through Nakhchivan. The railway from the Zangezur route would connect with Nakhchivan, while the Julfa railway station provides a direct link toward Iran. The North-South transport corridor is directed toward the Persian Gulf. From there it could stretch, for example, to Pakistan, which lies close to this region.

In this way, transport infrastructure in the South Caucasus is gradually becoming not just a matter of freight, but a tool of economic rapprochement. The more mutual trade interests appear, the more practical reasons the region's states have to keep communications open and relations stable.

The Middle Corridor and North-South may point in different directions, but they share one common idea - creating faster, more flexible and more diversified routes for international trade. And Azerbaijan has found itself at the epicenter, where these directions can meet.

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