Baku is hosting the fifth international Black and Caspian Freight Forum 2026: Corridors, Infrastructure, Investments, one of the region’s key platforms for discussing the future of transport connectivity between Central Asia, the Caspian and Black Seas, the South Caucasus, Türkiye, and European markets. The forum is organized by RDL Group, with the CASPIA think tank participating as a partner of the business programme.

The defining feature of this year’s forum is the changing nature of the discussion around transport corridors.

A few years ago, the central question was whether the Middle Corridor could become an alternative to traditional routes between Asia and Europe. Today, the discussion has become much more practical. The focus is increasingly on actual freight volumes, infrastructure capacity, transit times, the development of ports and railways, ferry fleets, digitalization, customs procedures, and the ability to attract private capital.

It was in this context that the forum’s opening panel discussion took on particular importance. The session was moderated by Orkhan Yolchuev, Director and Co-Founder of the CASPIA think tank.

Opening the discussion, Orkhan Yolchuev noted that CASPIA’s participation in the forum is a natural continuation of the think tank’s work on geopolitics, economics, infrastructure, and transport connectivity across Eurasia.

“Analysts, of course, love drawing beautiful arrows on maps. But cargo has a much less romantic view of the world. It wants to know: how long will the journey take, how much will it cost, and who will be responsible if it does not arrive on time?” said Orkhan Yolchuev.

According to him, this is precisely why the discussion of transport corridors must move beyond geography and political declarations and focus on the real economics of routes: cost, transit time, reliability, accountability, and the quality of interaction among all participants in the transport chain.

In his opening remarks, Orkhan Yolchuev emphasized that the emerging transport architecture of Eurasia is gradually turning the Black Sea–Caspian region from a space between major markets into one of the key nodes of international trade.

The region brings together the Middle Corridor, the North–South route, Black Sea shipping routes, the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway, prospective routes through Zangezur and TRIPP, as well as the Trans-Afghan route.

At the same time, according to CASPIA, the key challenge at the next stage is no longer to demonstrate the region’s geographic advantages, but to transform individual infrastructure opportunities into a unified, predictable, and commercially attractive transport product.

“A strong hub does not exist in isolation. Its strength is determined by the quality of its connections with its partners,” Orkhan Yolchuev stressed, highlighting the complementary roles of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as sources of cargo east of the Caspian; Azerbaijan as the link between the Caspian and the South Caucasus; and Georgia, Türkiye, and the Black Sea as gateways to European markets.

Against this backdrop, the key question of the opening panel was formulated as follows: Can the Black Sea–Caspian region move from a set of promising routes to a unified and sustainable logistics system?

As the forum discussion demonstrated, the answer depends on several factors at once: additional investment, stable freight flows, synchronization between railways and ports, digitalization, harmonization of procedures, and closer coordination between governments and the private sector.

One of the most important practical issues raised today was the need to establish sustainable freight flows in both directions.

Emil Mammadov, Advisor to the Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways (ADY), said that the company is working to attract return cargo, including Azerbaijani export products that can be transported in containers.

According to him, the focus previously was primarily on attracting Chinese cargo and export flows from Central Asia. The task now is also to use the existing container fleet to transport Azerbaijani products to international markets. ADY is already in negotiations with a number of major operators.

This represents a fundamentally important shift: the efficiency of a corridor is determined not only by the volume of cargo it can attract, but also by the balance of freight flows. The fewer empty return movements there are, the greater the economic efficiency of the entire transport chain.

At the same time, the countries along the Middle Corridor are increasingly working with European partners to build a stronger freight base in the West–East direction.

As Emil Mammadov noted, route promotion was previously focused primarily on its immediate participants in China, Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye. Attention is now shifting toward systematic engagement with the European market.

During the forum, ADY representatives also emphasized Azerbaijan’s growing importance as a transport hub and as a gateway for Central Asian countries to international routes.

According to Emil Mammadov, deeper economic integration and stronger transport cooperation with Central Asian countries could significantly expand the region’s freight base and strengthen Azerbaijan’s role as a link between Central Asia and global markets.

Another conclusion from today’s discussion was that the infrastructure of the future must be not only physical, but also digital.

Kamran Habibov, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Freight Forwarding Companies of Azerbaijan, stressed the need to create a unified digital platform for the Middle Corridor. Such a platform would not only enable cargo tracking, but also help forecast potential delays and assess their impact on delivery times.

The system could integrate data from railways, ports, shipping companies, freight forwarders, and other participants in the logistics chain, including information on weather conditions in the Caspian Sea.

In parallel, Azerbaijan is considering the introduction of a digital FIATA Bill of Lading (FBL) as a unified multimodal transport document.

According to Habibov, consultations on the initiative are already under way with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, and the first results of the work could be presented by the end of the year.

Another step is the transition to electronic documentation in road freight transport.

According to Kenan Gurbanov, Secretary General of ABADA, the first test shipment using e-CMR between Azerbaijan and Türkiye and Russia is expected by the end of 2026.

In addition, the first pilot shipment using the e-TIR system between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan has already been carried out.

Digitalization is therefore gradually ceasing to be an additional competitive advantage and is becoming one of the basic conditions for the corridor’s competitiveness.

An important signal also came from representatives of the European logistics industry.

Stephen Archer, CEO of Baltic Rail, noted that Western Europe’s industrial base is gradually shifting eastward, moving closer to the Middle Corridor.

The company, which has traditionally focused on maritime connections with China, Japan, and South Korea, is considering alternative routes amid continued disruptions and challenges in the Red Sea.

Once cargo reaches Baku, Poti, or Türkiye, it can continue via Constanța or Bulgarian ports, Romania, and Serbia into Central Europe.

This demonstrates that the Middle Corridor is gradually moving beyond the concept of a simple “China–Central Asia–Caucasus–Europe” route and becoming part of a broader network connecting the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and European logistics hubs.

On the sidelines of the forum, Serdar Yayli, CEO of Turkish company METRANS, said that the company will continue discussions on developing rail and intermodal freight services between Europe and Central Asia.

According to him, METRANS, which specializes primarily in rail freight transportation between Türkiye and Europe, sees the development of the Middle Corridor and the Caspian region as an important area for its future business.

This confirms another emerging trend: interest in the Middle Corridor is gradually moving from the level of political discussion toward the search for concrete commercial models and new routes.

The discussions at the forum show that the question surrounding the future of the Middle Corridor is gradually changing.

The issue is no longer simply whether the route is needed, but rather what its next architecture will look like and how efficiently it will be able to operate.

Achieving this will require more than building a railway, expanding a port, or increasing the number of vessels.

What is needed is a synchronized system in which cargo can cross borders and switch between modes of transport as predictably as possible; digital systems can exchange data seamlessly; infrastructure can keep pace with growing demand; and freight flows can ensure the commercial sustainability of the route.

This is why Black and Caspian Freight Forum 2026 is becoming a platform not only for discussing transport corridors, but also for examining the emerging economic geography of Eurasia.

For CASPIA, participation in this discussion is part of its broader work to study the processes shaping a new system of regional connectivity—from the Caspian Sea and the South Caucasus to Central Asia, Türkiye, and Europe.