Why the Eastern Partnership means the restoration of the Silk Road

2026-04-30

The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a European Union project prepared by Poland and Sweden. The Eastern Partnership was inaugurated in Prague on May 7, 2009. The project includes the European Union and 6 Eastern European countries - Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Since 2021, Belarus has suspended its EaP membership due to the sharp deterioration in the overall situation in terms of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Since the EaP is an EU project, let us clarify the main goals and objectives of the EU itself: The main policy objective of the EU is to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the single, internal market; The issue of jurisprudential legislation and home affairs; the maintenance of a common policy in trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. In other words, the European Union is a free market area.

After the collapse of the USSR, a free market for goods and capital was not established in the countries of Eastern Europe, where companies could attract investment by listing their securities on an independent stock exchange. Nor were independent commodity exchanges developed, where producers and traders could conclude trade deals on fair terms. Accordingly, the European Union has defined a strategy with the Eastern Partnership - the expansion of the free market to the East.

Why does Europe need an open and free market order in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries?

Before answering this question, we should draw a parallel with the EU and other related initiatives:

1. TRACECA, which stands for the Europe-Caucasus-Asia Transport Corridor, strengthens the EU's connectivity with the countries of Central Asia. All five EaP member states participate in the TRACECA project.

2. GUAM - an organization for democracy and economic development. The name "GUAM" is an acronym for the names of the countries united in it - Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova (EaP countries). On September 20, 2022, within the framework of the 39th session of the GUAM Council of Foreign Ministers, a Protocol on the Rules for Determining the Country of Origin of Goods and a Convention on Mutual Assistance in Consular Matters between GUAM Member States were signed. The Protocol envisages free trade between GUAM Member States on the basis of the cumulation principle. In particular, it allows GUAM Member States to use each other's raw materials, as a result of which the product will be assigned the status of origin in the country where it took its final form.

3. In March 2019, the Foreign Ministers of Romania, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed the Bucharest Declaration on the Development of the Caspian Sea-Black Sea Transport Corridor. In 2024, Turkmenistan confirmed its intention to create the route.

4. CAMCA

(Central Asia-Mongolia-Caucasus-Afghanistan) Regional Forum, created to facilitate discussions on means of economic growth and development in 10 countries of the region: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The Forum promotes dialogue and interaction among emerging leaders from all sectors of the 10 countries, as well as cooperation with international leaders and stakeholders.

5. At the initial stage of the Viking container shipping project, only Eastern and Northern European countries were involved, namely: Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. The cargo was served by the ports of Klaipeda (Lithuania), Odessa and Chornomorsk (Ukraine). In 2015-2016, Georgia and Azerbaijan were added to their ranks. This expansion created a new route for transporting cargo from the Caspian Sea basin to the Scandinavian countries.

6. There is also a South-Western transit corridor - from India through the ports of Iran to Armenia, and from there through the Black Sea ports of Georgia to Europe.

7. The Trans-Caspian International Trade Route (Middle Corridor) is worth mentioning, out of the 3 founding countries of which two are EaP members, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The route unites 11 countries, of which Ukraine is already a member. It is a well-known fact that the European Union is interested in the exploitation of critical mineral deposits of Central Asia with an investment of 12 billion euros, which will be implemented precisely through the Middle Corridor.

8. The Black Sea fiber-optic cable project also starts from Azerbaijan and connects to the EU energy markets through Georgia.

As can be seen from the listed programs, there are no transit corridors without the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. The European Union needs strong Eastern European countries with open and free markets as partners.

Of the 5 EaP member states, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are already EU candidate countries. In addition, the 8th summit of the "European Political Union" (EPC) will be held in Armenia on May 4, 2026, and the "first EU-Armenia summit" will be held on May 4-5. This is a historic event, where the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, together with the Prime Minister of Armenia, will discuss the country's new strategic agenda for European integration and visa liberalization issues.

The shortest route from Asia to Europe runs through Abkhazia and Crimea. Moscow has seized these very places, which hinders the Silk Road. That is why it is waging war in Ukraine. That is why it wants to violate the integrity of Ukraine, violate the integrity of Georgia, so as not to allow the restoration of the Silk Road. But the European Eastern Partnership will inevitably take place. This is a difficult and contradictory process. In the order of the Silk Road restored by the Eastern Partnership, Moscow will no longer be a geopolitical player.

Finally,

After Brexit, the UK-backed initiative: the Security Axis - London, Warsaw, Kiev; the Lublin Triangle with the Baltics; the Quadriga with Turkey and the Moldova-Georgia Trio, is a separate umbrella in the restoration of the Silk Road, with countries from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. And this initiative also means the expansion of the European free market to the East.

Author: Zurab Maghradze