The EU is set to attract €12 billion (around $13.8 billion) to develop the Middle Corridor, which runs through Central Asia and the Caucasus to Europe, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Kazakhstan is one of the key points along the route.
In her 2026 State of the Union address to the European Parliament, von der Leyen said that Europe’s prosperity and security cannot be ensured solely within the EU and stressed the need to develop trade. She said the EU has trade deals with more than 80 countries, while businesses are calling for further progress in this area.
«I can announce today a new international connectivity project. It will link the South Caucasus and Central Asia directly to the European market – what we call the Middle Corridor,» von der Leyen said.
She said that the EU plans to crowd in up to €12 billion in public and private investment through the Global Gateway initiative to develop the corridor. With this, the EU wants to diversify routes, triple trade volumes and significantly reduce cargo transit times by 2030.
To advance the project, a Regional Connectivity Summit with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria will be organized.
The Middle Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, is a logistics network connecting China and Europe through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, bypassing Russia.
The route is primarily used to transport containerized and general cargo, including industrial equipment, electronics, consumer goods, agricultural products and metals. The corridor also transports crude oil and refined products, including oil from Kazakhstan shipped across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and onward to other markets.
The total length of the route’s various sections is around 6,000 kilometers, including around 700 to 800 kilometers across the Caspian Sea. After crossing the Caspian, the Middle Corridor splits in Baku into two main routes: one runs through Georgia and Turkey by rail, while the other passes through the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi, with cargo then transported by sea to Europe.
Kazakhstan is one of the key players along the route.
