Transport corridors with the participation of Central Asia are the focus of the expert meeting in Astana
A meeting of the international platform of the Astana Club was held in Astana on December 11-12. The two-day program included eight thematic panel sessions, including discussions on greater integration of Central Asia and new prospects for regional development. The annual event brought together more than 40 leading experts, government officials and representatives of leading think tanks, in particular from Belgium, China, India, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Great Britain, the USA and Turkey, astanatimes.com. reports.
In particular, it was noted that with the beginning of the development of transport routes between Europe and China, Central Asia, located between the two sides, began to benefit largely due to the growing interconnection between West and East.
“Central Asia is a continental bridge between China and Europe,” Zhao Huasheng, a professor at the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai says.
Johannes Linn, senior fellow at the Global Economics and Development Program at the Brookings Institution, USA, emphasized Central Asia's contribution to the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
“The growth of INSTC involves Central Asia, for example, projects to supply electricity to Pakistan and further to India, as well as the construction of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to (South – editor’s note) Asia,” he noted.
Also at the meeting, there was an increase in attention to intensifying the dialogue between Central Asia and Europe on issues of transit of energy resources and to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) or the so-called “Middle Corridor”.
In 2022, the Middle Corridor expanded the geography of its route to include three more countries – Singapore, Lithuania and Bulgaria. Currently it includes 11 member countries and 25 transport and logistics companies.
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