Overcoming the Curse of Landlockedness: Strategic Importance of BTK in Connecting Central Asia to the World

This article is an analysis of the opportunities presented by the new Baku-TbilisiKars railway project to landlocked Central Asia and Azerbaijan. The creation of efficient transportation corridors is important for landlocked states in terms of obtaining secure and cost effective access to major export and import markets, and in order to overcome the trade bottlenecks created by geography. In this regard, the importance of the “New Silk Road” project is comprehensively assessed, with particular focus on the opportunities presented by the newly launched Baku-TbilisiKars railway route. It is argued that these projects constitute major breakthroughs for Central Asia and Azerbaijan, not only helping them to overcome the economic development limitations entailed by lack of maritime access, but also providing easy access to global markets and significantly increasing their role as transit countries connecting East and West.

Authors: Javid Alisgandarli
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