BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. The Middle Corridor has become a reliable and viable route, Head of the Department of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Turhan Dilmac said, Trend reports.
He made the remark at the 13th Meeting of the Think Tank Forum of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on the theme "Resonance of Development and Security: Regional Cooperation and Governance in the Institutional Transformation of CICA" in Baku today.
"The Middle Corridor has become a reliable and viable route that revives the ancient Silk Road. It runs from China through Central Asia, crosses the Caspian Sea via Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, goes through Georgia, and reaches Europe via Türkiye," Dilmac said.
According to him, the ports of Baku, Alat, Aktau, and Turkmenbashi play an indispensable role in this multimodal network. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway also lies at its core.
"Initiatives such as the Belt and Road and the Middle Corridor are not just physical infrastructure. They are strategic instruments for integration, stability, and inclusive development. They directly correspond to the goals of the CICA," Dilmac added.
He noted that enhancing connectivity across the Caspian Sea, which is a vital part of the Middle Corridor, is a strategic necessity for the sustainability and prosperity of the region.
The Middle Corridor is a transport and trade route that passes through several countries in the region, connecting Asia with Europe. It serves as an alternative to the traditional Northern and Southern corridors.
The route begins in China and goes through Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. It then crosses the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye before reaching Europe. The Middle Corridor is a land-based route that bypasses longer maritime paths, linking the eastern parts of Asia, including China, with Europe.
At the 1992 UN General Assembly, Kazakhstan's then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between CICA Member States and the Almaty Act, approved in 1999 and 2002, respectively, are the organization's basic texts. Asian nations welcomed the CICA plan. The interested countries met for seven years to explore CICA modalities and create basic papers. On September 14, 1999, 15 member states attended the first CICA Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting. CICA Member States adopted the Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations during this meeting.
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