A recent European study on sustainable transport connections with Central Asia concluded that the Central Trans-Caspian Network (CTCN), crossing southern Kazakhstan, provides the “most sustainable transport connections between Europe and Central Asia,” particularly when a “two-layer catchment” area that spans 300 km north and 600 km south of the core route — hereby touching on all five Central Asia states — is taken into account. This so-called Middle Corridor encompasses four of Central Asia’s five most populous cities (Tashkent, Almaty, Bishkek, and Shymkent).
The study, funded by the European Commission with an eye toward implementing both the 2019 EU Strategy on Central Asia and the 2021 Global Gateway Strategy, was carried out by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) over a period of time stretching from November 2021 to June 2023. The 55-page report assess several transport route options and for the route deemed “most sustainable” — the CTCN — off
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