00:00The Middle Corridor, covering approximately 4,250 km of rail and 500 km of sea,
00:07where containers, oil, gas and electricity are transported via railways, ports and pipelines.
00:21I'm Nadira Tudor and welcome to Business Horizons.
00:25On today's programme, we're looking at the Middle Corridor, Azerbaijan as a regional transport hub.
00:38Welcome to Business Horizons, Mr. Mamadov.
00:40Thank you very much.
00:41Over the past few years, the Middle Corridor has attracted growing international attention.
00:46Why do you think that is?
00:47The corridor itself is becoming more, transferring from regional kind of corridor more to trade corridor concept.
00:56We have an advantage of the Caspian Sea and that enables us to increase the efficiency of transportation of the
01:03goods over the Middle Corridor.
01:05Therefore, geographical position of Azerbaijan is very important.
01:08How important is it to create those partnerships, that coordination with the countries involved that you've mentioned?
01:15Every country has its own ecosystem.
01:18Every country has its own infrastructure that includes railway, marine, and Middle Corridor itself, in that terms, has many different
01:27participants.
01:28Improving the coordination work is very important in this term.
01:32Now, we know that digitalisation has transformed logistics.
01:36How is digitalisation helping Azerbaijan Railways, for example, or the work that you're doing?
01:43Today, in the modern world, we need to know immediately where the cargo is, at what stage, whether there is
01:53delays or any kind of services to be provided.
01:57That is tracked by digital solutions.
02:00How do you see the future in terms of both opportunities and challenges when it comes to the Middle Corridor?
02:06Middle Corridor has increased its expansion, becoming more like intercontinental kind of trade route.
02:17So we better coordinate our efforts in order to provide the end-to-end solutions for our customers.
02:30Now time for our Business Horizons Insight.
02:34The Middle Corridor is a multimodal system.
02:37Cargo containers are transported by trucks and rail on land starting in China and moving through countries including Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,
02:45Georgia, and Turkey.
02:46And by sea, they cross the Caspian and Black Seas on ferries.
02:50The Baku International Trade seaport handled approximately 8 million tonnes of cargo in the first 11 months of 2025
02:57and are working towards full capacity of 25 million tonnes in the coming years, which is a significant target for
03:04Azerbaijan.
03:05According to the World Economic Forum, the Middle Corridor is a strategic artery for both trade and energy flows,
03:11moving containers, oil, gas, and increasingly electricity.
03:15But behind every container, every freight train, and every shipment are sophisticated control systems.
03:23We went on location to find out more.
03:30Port of Baku plays the role of Gateway, which is the main transit hub in the region,
03:36which connects the Asian ports with the European ports.
03:41The main commodity that Port handles are containers, brick bulk, bulk, and general cargo.
03:49Also, we are handling rural and ferry cargos, such as trucks, trailers, rail cars, etc.
03:59One of the main commodities are agricultural products, fertilizers, manufacturing goods, household goods, etc.
04:06Once the vessel arrived, we have to discharge the cargo on time and deliver it to the final destination on
04:14time.
04:14As demand grows in the Middle Corridor, one of the best indicators for that is that container handling capacity grew
04:24up significantly.
04:26For example, compared to last year, with 2024, cargo handling volume increased by 40%.
04:33First time in the port history, the bulk cargo handling capacity reached over 1 million tonnes.
04:45Global trade needs more than solid infrastructure.
04:48We know it's dependent on connectivity, resilience, and international cooperation.
04:53That's all for this edition of Business Horizons.
04:55Thanks for watching.
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