Reports · Oct 18, 2026
CA-EU Samarkand Forum Signs Trans-Caspian Rail and Road Connectivity Agreements
The Central Asia + European Union Ministerial Forum in Samarkand concluded its second day on October 18 with the signing of a comprehensive Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor Agreement covering rail and road infrastructure investments totalling 8 billion euros. The agreement links EU Global Gateway commitments with Central Asian national infrastructure plans and Azerbaijan's and Georgia's transit capacities. It formally establishes the Middle Corridor — routing cargo from Central Asia via the Caspian, South Caucasus, and Turkey to Europe — as a strategic alternative to the Trans-Siberian route.
Contents
Key takeaways
- EUR 8 billion connectivity package covers rail, road, and port infrastructure across six countries
- Middle Corridor designated as EU-Central Asia Strategic Transport Corridor
- Caspian ferry capacity at Aktau and Turkmenbashi ports to double by 2029
- Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China rail link studies commissioned as eastern spur
- EU Global Gateway provides 3.5 billion EUR in guarantees; remainder from EIB, EBRD, and national sources
Agreement Content and Infrastructure Priorities
The Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor Agreement, signed October 18 at the Samarkand International Forum Centre by the EU's High Representative Kaja Kallas, Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, and counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, commits 8 billion euros in identified and committed financing to a package of infrastructure projects across the full length of the Middle Corridor. The highest-priority projects in the initial phase are: expansion of the Caspian ferry capacity at Kazakhstan's Aktau and Turkmenistan's Turkmenbashi ports to handle 30 million tonnes annually by 2029 (currently 11 million tonnes); electrification of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which currently requires diesel traction for the Georgian section; and construction of a dry port logistics hub near Baku capable of handling the transhipment volumes required when Caspian ferry capacity doubles.
A second package covers the Central Asian domestic rail network, where gauge incompatibility and capacity constraints limit corridor throughput. The Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan rail link, which would significantly reduce transport time between Uzbekistan and China's Xinjiang border, has been the subject of feasibility studies for fifteen years. The Forum agreement commissions a new engineering and financing study with a mandate to produce implementation-ready documentation within 18 months — a stronger mandate than previous studies that resulted in inconclusive recommendations. The study will be conducted by a consortium including Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting, SNCF International, and the EBRD's transport infrastructure team.
Financing Architecture and Implementation Governance
The financing architecture underpinning the agreement combines EU Global Gateway guarantees of 3.5 billion euros — the single largest Global Gateway commitment to a specific corridor — with EIB project loans, EBRD trade finance and equity instruments, and national government co-financing. The Global Gateway guarantee mechanism de-risks private investment by covering first-loss tranches, making the corridor commercially attractive to European infrastructure investors including pension funds and sovereign wealth vehicles. The EU's deployment of Global Gateway at this scale in Central Asia is explicitly competitive with Chinese BRI financing for the same corridor, though Forum delegates were careful to avoid direct references to competition with China in their public statements.
A Trans-Caspian Corridor Coordination Authority will be established, hosted in Baku with a rotating chair among participating states, to monitor project implementation, harmonise customs and transit procedures, and resolve bottlenecks. The Authority's mandate includes a 'single window' customs and border management reform programme that the EU has identified as a higher priority than physical infrastructure: analysis shows that administrative delays at borders add 8-12 days to transit times versus the 3-4 days that physical infrastructure constraints add. The customs reform component is co-financed by the EU's TRACECA programme and will be piloted on the Aktau-Tbilisi transit route in 2027.
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