SCO, Azerbaijan and the Trans-Caspian Corridor - ANALYSIS

On Wednesday in Astana, as part of the SCO summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev launched the shipment of cargo along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR). The block train and cargo caravan that left China at the end of June arrived at the Kazakh ports of Aktau and Kuryk, where they were loaded onto ferries for shipment to Azerbaijan, from where the cargo will be delivered to Europe via Georgia and Turkey.

Recall that on June 28, the first freight train departed from Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, to Istanbul via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In a statement, the operator of the new route, Nanjing International Freight Train, said the train consisted of 110 containers loaded with household appliances and essential goods. China Railway Group announced that it had identified 87 routes for trains running from China to Europe and stepped up efforts to organize China-Europe and China-Asia train services along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor. In addition, the China-Europe train schedule has been expanded.

The fact that the launch of the TMTM by the heads of the two states took place within the framework of the SCO summit is symbolic. This event could not fail to attract the attention of the members and partners of the organization, most of whom are vitally interested in this route.

It is clear that China has decided to increase its activity. Recently, it seemed that there was some stagnation and uncertainty in the issue of logistics routes. Today, we see that active processes are unfolding around the Middle Corridor (as the TMTR is also called). Perhaps, the fact that extra-regional players have made a number of attempts to seize the initiative and control over the strategic route played a role. After the failure of a number of other initiatives, all eyes turned to the Middle Corridor.

China's increased activity is undoubtedly beneficial to the countries along the Middle Corridor route. China is one of the world's largest economies, accounting for more than 18 percent of global GDP. Although European countries, for political reasons and not always of their own free will, are reducing trade volumes with China, China still remains one of the EU's largest trading partners. In addition, an important factor in increasing the relevance of the TITR is Europe's growing interest in Central Asian resources. This means that even if trade between the EU and China declines somewhat, the Middle Corridor will remain busy.

For its part, Azerbaijan continues to create conditions so that trade routes passing through its territory are profitable and efficient.

On July 3, within the framework of the SCO summit held in Astana, the heads of Azerbaijan and China adopted a Joint Declaration on the establishment of a strategic partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the People's Republic of China. We will talk about this historical document and its significance for our countries and for the region separately. For now, we will only emphasize that it connected two most important links of the Middle Corridor not only economically, but also politically. It is easy to calculate what significance the establishment of a strategic partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the People's Republic of China will have for the success of transport and logistics projects in the region.

On the opening day of the SCO summit, it became known that China Railways launched a new train route from Xi'an, the main hub for freight transportation by rail from China to Europe, to Baku. The trains will run once a week. After leaving Xi'an, the trains will arrive in Baku within 12 days via the Khorgos border point in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea. The first train on this route departed on July 1. As noted, the new route was opened in order to contribute to trade and economic cooperation along the China-Europe freight train network and the development of the Belt and Road initiative.

Recently, Azerbaijan and China signed a memorandum that will facilitate the growth of transportation volumes along the Middle Corridor. The document was signed between Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and the leadership of Jiangsu Province. And before that, Azerbaijan Railways announced plans to open a representative office in China, as well as to purchase or build a terminal in the PRC.

Azerbaijan considers the Chinese market a priority for itself. Today's Chinese market has a larger scale, a better structure, more sophisticated rules and system, as well as stronger international influence and attractiveness. Ultimately, all partners in the project benefit from Baku's activity and initiative in matters of transport corridors. As Landon Derentz, Director of the Atlantic Council's Center for Global Energy, noted in early June at the Baku Energy Forum, the TITR is Azerbaijan's contribution to the development of the global economy. "It is important to emphasize the importance of Azerbaijan as the center of the Middle Corridor. The implementation of the Middle Corridor project was determined by the will of official Baku and the resources of Azerbaijan," he emphasized.

This is not a nod to Baku, but a statement of reality. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route exists thanks to the initiative and persistence of Azerbaijan, which managed to advance this project when no one else needed it so vitally. Azerbaijan saw the prospect, despite the fact that no one else saw it. The capacity of the TMTM, which is about 11 thousand km long, is planned to be increased from 6 to 10 million tons of cargo by 2025. It is expected that in 2024 the volume of cargo transportation will increase to 4.2 million tons.

Earlier, in an interview with the Chinese media corporation China Media Group, President Ilham Aliyev said that "routes through the Caspian Sea are becoming vitally important and, fortunately, we have long since done all our work and prepared everything. And now it will be easier to expand."

And so it is. Azerbaijan opened the largest sea trade port on the Caspian Sea, built modern highways. And most importantly, it built the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway at its own expense, which can be called the axial one on the TMTR route. At one time, the project was anathema and its prospects were predicted to be gloomy. And today even critics have to admit how right Baku was.

Returning to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, we note that Azerbaijan is closely connected to this organization without being a member. More precisely, the member countries are connected to each other by corridors that converge in Azerbaijan.