✔️ Regional Head of EBRD in the Caucasus, Alkis Vrienios Drakinos, told journalists at the 57th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank: "The Middle Corridor is a very important concept and project that will benefit the economy of Georgia. Moreover, the Middle Corridor will have a greater impact, because the Middle Corridor has branches and all the countries in the region will benefit from it. Connecting Central Asia and Europe in terms of trade, energy security, transportation of products is vital and that is why the Middle Corridor is a very important project. It can be said that it is a game changer in the region and it will also respond to the current needs, and represents a solution to geopolitical challenges".

✔️ The USA and the European Union expressed their support for the "Crossroads of Peace" project of Armenia. The European Union will allocate 270 million euros as a grant to Armenia over the next four years. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this at the press conference held on May 3 in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, before the EU-USA-Armenia tripartite meeting. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also announced support for the "Crossroads of Peace" project in Brussels.

✔️ The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan ratified the agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan and China on international road transport. The agreement will allow Kazakh vehicles to move deep into China's territory, including the country's southeastern seaports. This, in turn, will reduce the costs and time of transporting goods in the border areas of the Republic of Kazakhstan and China, and will have a positive impact on the value of imported goods and the costs of Kazakh exporters. Similar conditions will apply to Chinese carriers on the territory of Kazakhstan. Within the framework of the agreement, it is planned to issue electronic permit forms for motor transport. Currently, up to 120,000 paper permits are being exchanged with the Chinese side. The transfer of permit forms from paper to electronic format eliminates additional financial costs of production of paper forms, as well as the human factor in the process of their distribution and control.

✔️ "Tbilisi Logistics Center", which carries out international cargo logistics, is expanding its infrastructure. 10 million GEL was invested in the construction of the customs warehouse, and the planned expansion will cost the company 17-18 million GEL. The new A-class customs warehouse is equipped with a WMS system, which provides key Automation and optimization of processes such as: cargo receiving, storage, collection and shipping.

✔️ EBRD granted a loan of 3 million euros to the Austrian logistics company Gebrüder Weiss to expand the logistics center near Tbilisi. This investment will finance the expansion of the company's Class A intermodal logistics terminal. "Georgia is considered an important transit hub for the Caucasus region and its logistics and transport industry has grown significantly over the last decade. The country's transit potential is expected to grow further as the country's economic outlook is positive. Gebrüder Weiss is one of the leading logistics companies in the country and is currently experiencing growth in both traffic volume and customer demand. In order to meet the growing demand, the company needs to expand the logistics terminal, which is strategically located near Tbilisi International Airport and is currently operating at full capacity," the press release said.

Austrian logistics company Gebrüder Weiss has been operating in Georgia since 2013. To date, the EBRD has invested nearly €5.3 billion in 296 projects in Georgia's financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors.

✔️ In the month of May, Kazakhstan and China started the trial transit truck transportation of cargo from the Kazakh port of Kurik to Baku and via the Trans-Caspian international transport route to Europe.

✔️ Kazakhstan invites Vietnam to discuss the possibilities of the Middle Corridor for the export of goods to Europe. Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin held a meeting with Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam Nguyen Hong Dien on May 15. During the meeting, Zhumangarin said that Vietnam is one of the important partners for Kazakhstan in Asia. The trade turnover between the two countries [based on the results of 2023] increased by 85% and reached almost 1 billion dollars. The Vietnamese vice-premier also invited Vietnamese companies to explore the possibilities of the Middle Corridor, which would allow Vietnam's exports from east to west to be carried out 3-4 times faster than sea routes, which would greatly reduce costs.

✔️ According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey is ready to participate in the largest projects of Georgia. "We will continue to make efforts in the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, which is the backbone of the "Middle Corridor" and the revival of the historical Silk Road... We are ready to participate in the largest projects in Georgia - in the construction of airports, ports, energy projects, construction of transmission lines, security We also expressed our desire and promise in terms of cooperation", said Erdogan.

✔️ The 7th ministerial meeting of the "Green Energy Corridor" was held in Tbilisi. At the ministerial meeting, the parties discussed several important issues, including the further stages of the development of the Black Sea submarine cable project. It was decided at the ministerial meeting that the next meeting will be held in Bucharest and within its framework a joint enterprise of four countries will be established, which will work on the implementation of the project.

✔️ By the end of 2027, Kazakhstan plans to build a new dry port. In the Almaty region, on 8.5 thousand hectares, the international transport and logistics hub "Kolzhat Dry Port" will be built, which will provide a full cycle with modern infrastructure. The port will be built in two stages in 2024-2027. Within the framework of the project, it is planned to build warehouses, brokerage, transport, goods export and Creation of other support centers. The project will be implemented in order to increase the trade turnover with China and to modernize the Kolzhat checkpoint. Construction of transport-logistics complex "Dry Port" is also planned in Kostan district.

✔️ On May 22, Arnold Dupuy, Chairman of the NATO Science and Technology Organization, said that providing additional support for the "Middle Corridor" from Washington, Brussels and Ankara will be a strong signal to the countries concerned, as well as to Beijing and Moscow. This will serve as an illustration to the countries of the region that long-term stability and economic growth can be achieved through closer cooperation with NATO countries and the European Union. The United States and its allies have an opportunity to positively impact security and generate goodwill along the Middle Corridor by increasing investment in trade development and infrastructure projects.

✔️ CEO of Wondernet Investment Group, Mamuka Murjiknel participated in the panel of the 8th Annual Trans-Caspian Forum at the Cosmos Club in Washington. The forum, with the theme "How to develop the Middle Corridor", was hosted by the Caspian Policy Center (CPC) in partnership with the embassies of the Caspian region. In his report, Mamuka Murjikneli noted that the growing importance of the middle corridor requires an increase in capacity. However, despite the traffic, the route update is delayed. He emphasized that investments are needed in the development of the ports of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

✔️ According to the Russian Sea Ports Association, the volume of export cargo decreased to 225.9 million tons, which is a decrease of 4.8%. The volume of imported goods increased by 3.1% to 13.4 million tons. The transit rate also increased, which amounted to 23.2 million tons in 4 months, and the increase was 2.3%. According to the union, during this period the cargo turnover of the ports of the Black Sea-Azov basin decreased the most, which amounted to 93.8 million tons, which means an annual decrease of 6.9%. Also, 6.1% decrease in cargo transportation through the ports of the Arctic basin, and the cargo turnover of the ports of the Baltic Sea basin It decreased by 2.5% to 85.5 million tons. In total, the ports in the Caspian Sea basin increased by 3 million tons of cargo during this period, which is an increase of 40.7%, while the cargo turnover of the ports of the Far East basin decreased by 3.2% to 75.1 million tons.

✔️ On May 22, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved the funding of USD 35 million to finance the first phase of the Electricity Connection and Renewable Energy Program (ESPIRE Program). According to the World Bank, "if Georgia and other participating countries finally decide to implement the Black Sea submarine cable project, financing of the 2nd phase of the program will begin simultaneously with the first phase of the ESPIRE program." In addition, the Regional Director of the World Bank in the South Caucasus, Roland Price, noted that "if Georgia and other participating countries decide to implement the BSSC project, the second phase of the ESPIRE program will finance the strengthening of the terrestrial transmission network in Georgia and potentially other countries. The third phase will support its own Submarine cable financing in cooperation with other financiers".

The purpose of the Black Sea submarine cable project is to:

• Increasing energy security

• Decarbonization of energy supply by promoting the use of renewable energy, and

• Growth of digital connections across the Black Sea region and beyond.

✔️ Drewry's global index of container shipping, which showed a decrease since January 25, has increased again. The cost of shipping a 40-foot container is $3,511. Due to the decrease in the number of empty containers and the huge traffic jam at the border, China has sharply increased the tariff of container rail transportation to Russia and Belarus by 500-800 dollars. The price of sea freight from China has increased - from 800-1000 dollars to 1300-1500 dollars.

✔️ E60 Shipping Line, a member of the international holding of Georgian origin, replaced the ferry Vilnius with Cenk T and increased its capacity by about 25%. If 100 units of a 17-meter truck with its trailer were loaded on Vilnius, now 125 units of a 17-meter truck with its trailer can be loaded on Cenk T. The holding has been operating worldwide for years in such industries as international parcels and shipping - Inex Group, international financial, telecommunications and tourism services.

✔️ For the first time in history, China has started transporting cargo via Georgia to Europe. The first three Chinese trucks weighing 80 tons left China, went through the transit route and boarded the ferry at Aktau Kurik port on May 23 this year. Traffic continued on the China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia route. Today, hundreds of millions of tons of cargo from China to Western countries are delivered by sea in 52 days, a smaller volume of cargo goes by rail in 22 days, and road transport can reduce this time to 12 days. In addition, the head of Vipexpress Company Nugzar Mikuchadze says that it takes 7-10 days to transport cargo from China to Georgia by air, and land transportation is the most demanded, because the Suez Canal is closed and containers are transported around Africa.

✔️ Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route was opened in test mode. In particular, construction works will continue in the first half of the day, and freight trains will run in the second half of the day. The first freight train arrived in Turkey on the modernized route of the BTK railway on May 25. The train transported 632 tons of plastic raw materials loaded in 20 containers from Baku to Kars, from where the cargo was transferred to the logistics center after the appropriate customs inspection. One of the main issues at the next stage of the expansion of the Georgian section of the BTK railway is the creation of a joint company between Azerbaijan and Georgia. which will work in the direction of effectively managing BTK operations and attracting new cargoes. The total volume of goods transported through BTK was 432,284 tons in 2022, which is 30% more than in 2021. After modernization, the capacity of BTK railway will increase to five million tons per year.

✔️ In January-April 2024, the revenue received from driving trucks in the Georgian transport corridor has increased by 7%. In the mentioned period, 56,872,809 GEL was received from the handling of trailers, and 53,396,016 GEL in the same period of 2023. In January-April 2024, 162,494 trucks crossed the corridor of Georgia.

✔️ According to GEO-STAT data, in the first quarter of 2024, the cargo turnover of ports operating in Georgia decreased. In the first three months of the year, Georgian ports handled 3.4 million tons of cargo, which is 8% less compared to the same period last year. On the contrary, in the 1st quarter, 3.2 million tons of cargo were transported through the Georgian Railways, which is 2.5% more compared to the same period of the previous year.

Giorgi Zumbadze, the managing partner of the transport company "Sky Logistics", connects the decrease in cargo turnover of Georgian ports and, on the contrary, the increase in railway cargo turnover, with the increase in the price of sea transportation.

✔️ Within the framework of the "Crossroads of Peace" project started by the Armenian government, the first truck from the Chinese city of Shanghai arrived in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, on May 31. It passed through the territories of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. This shipment from China to Armenia took about 20 days.

✔️ According to the data of 2024, the most containers were processed in Poti port in May. According to the January-May data, a total of 225,630 TEU containers were handled by APM Terminals Poti. The reception of container ships has also increased. APM Terminals Poti received 30 container ships in May 2024, 27 in April and 24 in March.

Source: europetime.eu, bm.ge, brg.ge, accentnews.ge, ajaratv.ge, lsm.kz, bpn.ge, businessinsider.ge

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