BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 2. For the effective functioning of the Middle Corridor, it is not enough to simply develop infrastructure; it is also important to coordinate the activities of various countries and institutions, harmonize legislation, and adopt a unified approach to digitalization and logistics processes, the co-founder and country director of the Central Asian Development Institute (CADI) based in Tashkent, and a prominent member of the CAMCA network, Farrukh Irnazarov, said on the second day of the CAMCA regional forum held in Baku on Friday, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
According to him, the operation of the Middle Corridor is like a relay race, and it is necessary to properly coordinate the actions of the parties involved in the various stages of the process.
“The Middle Corridor is a kind of relay race. Everyone runs their own leg, holds the baton, and prepares to pass it on to the next participant. However, at that moment, one party might say to another, ‘Fill out the paperwork first, then I’ll take the baton.’ This creates an additional problem,” he said.
F. Irnazarov noted that the participation of several countries and organizations in the Middle Corridor’s activities means that the actions of each of them affect the overall result.
“Given that six countries and various agencies are working together to implement this process, even if each of them achieves 95 percent accuracy and timeliness in their work, the overall success rate may ultimately drop to about 70 percent. This is because all parties are interdependent,” he emphasized.
According to him, each country and agency can document the successful completion of its own activities, but due to the interdependence of the processes, the overall result may fall short of expectations.
“On paper, every country can say, ‘We did our job well; everything went smoothly.’ However, in the end, it may prove impossible to reach the required level. This is because the parties are interdependent, and various modes of transport are involved in the process,” added F. Irnazarov.
He noted that to coordinate these processes, it is important to harmonize legislation and strengthen trust between the parties.
“To ensure synchronization, certain changes in legislation, harmonization, and trust, which we discussed yesterday, are necessary,” he noted.
Irnazarov stated that placing excessive emphasis on infrastructure in discussions about the development of the Middle Corridor is also not the right approach.
“Unfortunately, we keep talking about infrastructure. Infrastructure is perceived as some kind of universal solution for the development of the Middle Corridor. However, while infrastructure is undoubtedly important, it alone will not solve all the problems,” he said.
According to him, the main focus should be on “bottlenecks” that arise along transport routes and on constraints that slow down processes.
“We must always pay attention to bottlenecks and constraints and determine which measures can yield tangible results. This approach will make it possible to implement the project,” Irnazarov emphasized.
F. Irnazarov noted that the drop in the water level of the Caspian Sea also creates certain difficulties for the transportation process.
“The decline in shipping volumes across the Caspian Sea also creates certain problems. Furthermore, the preference for certain types of cargo, vessel classes, and modes of transport belonging to a specific country further complicates the situation,” he added.
According to him, one of the key steps toward resolving these issues is to standardize the entire process around a single operator and a single shipping document.
“One of the most important issues is structuring all these processes in such a way that there is a single operator and a single cargo document. Thus, instead of holding separate discussions with each agency, a single party is designated to be responsible for the entire process,” said F. Irnazarov.
He also emphasized the importance of imposing financial accountability to ensure the timely and high-quality execution of processes.
“Another issue is defining the financial consequences of failing to meet obligations. If you cannot deliver the required result by a certain deadline, there must be financial accountability. Because this is one way to ensure that processes function properly,” he noted.
F. Irnazarov also noted that digitalization plays an important role in improving the efficiency of the Middle Corridor. “All documents must be distributed digitally, and processes must be understandable to all parties. There is a lot of work ahead, and we need to cover a vast area,” he added.
