As per Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, the director of the European Neighbourhood Council- ENC, an independent think-tank, a small group comprising high-ranking cabinet personnel, ambassadors, and other diplomats happened to meet in a closed-door round table on May 15, 2024, representing nations from the South Caucasus, Central Asia, the EU, and Turkey. The meeting, which was organized by the Turkish Industry and Business Association- TUSIAD and the Turkish International Transporters Association- UND happened to focus on the synergy between Global Gateway initiatives by the EU and the projects across the Trans-Caspian International Trade Route- TITR.
The meeting taking place has been confirmed by Turkey’s permanent delegate to the EU. Doveri Vesterbye went on to write that the meeting happened to consist of 30 people who were mostly linked to transport, logistics, democracy, crucial infra security, policymaking, and also supply chains, and went on to bring together four varied Directorate Generals- DGs as well as more than 10 nationalities at the Director-and-Ambassador level.
Importantly, the development pertaining to high level coordination committees happens to be underway.
The meeting’s evaluation that TITR happens to be funded much faster than expected happens to be an incredibly positive development. Dr. S. Frederick Starr, a distinguished fellow for Eurasia said that the activation as well as coordination of both European as well as Turkish institutions happen to be necessary not just for the financing and construction of the mega project but also for its successful management in the days ahead.
All this happens to be a very balanced development for international commerce. Since the other corridors happen to be much more volatile, this will help in insulating trade between China as well as Europe because of supply chain shocks. It is advantageous to the participating states too. As per Starr, the ongoing European and Turkish involvement in building TITR will aid in transitioning the states of Central Asia and also South Caucasus so as to balance out their relations with China as well as Europe and hence undergird their respective sovereignties. Such kind of balance goes on to create what is indeed a win-win scenario.
As per a mid-2023 report that was prepared jointly by the EU Commission and EBRD, almost €18.5 billion is needed in infrastructure investments so as to enhance transport connectivity in Central Asia. The probable growth in terms of transit container traffic can also be 40-fold by 2040, with major spill-over effects that could be seen on tech hubs, education, business, and middle-class development.
Simultaneously, the TITR has been reconceptualised as a regional trade and economic growth driver along the overall Europe-Turkey-Central Asia- South Caucasus trajectory, with major attention being given to the last two. It is well to be noted that EBRD and the EU Commission have already gone on to fund €10.5 billion in Central Asia through loans as well as grant investments that were promised just a few months ago in January 2024 in Brussels.
This pace happens to suggest a significant commitment by large bureaucratic organizations, and it also augurs well for the unlocking of funds coming from the European Investment Bank- EIB for investments in Turkey.
Doveri Vesterbye mentions that the heads of EU member-state missions across Brussels- COREPER—will work to sync the EIB investments, with due attention to reforming the Customs Union, so as to prepare EU decisions in this direction. For instance, such seeming minutiae as the facilitation of giving out visas to truck drivers from Turkey need attention so as to execute the EBRD recommendations in order to diminish costs that are associated with otherwise much longer waiting times at the borders. Other major recommendations, including the ones from the World Bank Report of 2023, suggest implementing digitalization, especially at border crossings, cutting the red tape such as customs declaration paperwork, and also improving the bottlenecks concerning logistics. When we talk of the last aspect, the truck transit has to be enhanced both in short as well as medium terms, and when it comes to rail transit, it must be in the long term.
A recent study implemented on the basis of the EBRD study suggests that the investment of €16.5 billion so as to enhance regulatory frameworks as well as infra connectivity is going to increase the traffic pertaining to containers from 100,000 twenty-foot equivalent units to 865,000 TEU. This would also go on to dip Asia-Europe transit times from a month or even more to less than 13 days. It is well to be noted that the next EU Commission as well as the European Parliament are going to play a role in the development of the corridor by either encouraging or needing investments in energy in hydrogen, wind as well as solar when it comes to electricity generation.
Doveri Vesterbye goes on to argue that the middle corridors assistance within Europe’s supply chain relocation will aid the EU to go ahead and achieve worldwide strategic autonomy. Aspects that contribute to this kind of development may include Chinese Raw Materials sources diversification at very competitive economic costs and also maintenance of control on the strategic supply as well as production chains by way of access to energy that’s inexpensive and also major rare metals.
Apparently, the middle corridor has been realized much faster than anticipated, but continued fine attention is indeed required for the most effective execution. It happens to be a part and parcel of the continuous reconfiguration when it comes to global supply chains which are going to continue over the next decade and a half as the international systems go on to reach the tensions cropping up from the present bifurcation taking place between the Anglosphere and Sinosphere trading routes.
If the EU will be able to make use of the buildout of the Middle Corridor to get Turkey back to a western orientation remains to be looked into. However, what is clear from all this is that the vision of a robust as well as an efficient middle corridor happens to be materializing quite steadily and that the long-term advantages of this initiative go on to extend beyond the current trade efficiencies. By way of synchronizing the funding and also stressing upon the modernization when it comes to infra will prominently go on to push the transit states’ economies. The fact is that enhanced connectivity is any which way going to spur regional development, push the rise of technology hubs and also help in the growth of a strong middle class by way of rising educational options.
The fact is that the EU is indeed succeeding in the recruitment of middle-corridor nations within its programs, stressing investments in sustainable energies such as hydrogen production as well as its transmission.
The successful execution will anyway raise Europe’s resilience against supply chain disruptions.
