BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 2. The Middle
Corridor should contribute to economic development and regional
cooperation, rather than being viewed solely as a transit route
between China and Europe, the president of the consulting firm
PMCG, Alexi Aleksishvili, said at the CAMCA 2026 Regional Forum in
Baku, Trend's
correspondent reports from the event.


According to him, historically, regional cooperation and
transport corridors have been shaped not only by geographical
location but also by specific historical circumstances. “Of course,
geographical location exists, but we need to utilize it and apply
it as wisely as possible. The countries of the Caucasus and Central
Asia previously lacked an institutionalized model for regional
cooperation. We never had any institutionalized model for this,
only individual projects. The project of the century, which remains
so to this day, is the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline. It was truly a
very interesting and important breakthrough in terms of economic
cooperation,” he said.


Aleksishvili noted that in the 21st century, many changes are
taking place in this area, particularly concerning the development
of coordination among the countries of Central Asia and the
Caucasus. “The concept of the ‘Middle Corridor’ can sometimes be
misleading, as it raises the question of whether its purpose is
solely to connect points of origin and destination and to
facilitate the transit of containers between China and Europe. Is
that the economic value of such cooperation? Definitely not,” said
the PMCG president.







He cited Georgia as an example, noting that it takes about seven
hours to cross the country: “Even taking into account the driver’s
stops and everything else, ultimately this is not of significant
value if viewed solely as a transit route. The added value created
through the corridor’s operation should serve to further develop
the economy. That is why I believe that it is connectivity and
economic cooperation that matter, not the corridor itself. Of
course, the corridor is very important, and physical infrastructure
is very important, but that is not enough.”