Kazakhstan and the European Union are preparing a high-level meeting on the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor on 23 June, intended to widen cooperation among the states along the route. A preparatory workshop this month, co-chaired by Kazakh deputy transport minister Talgat Lastayev and the EU ambassador to Kazakhstan, Aleska Simkic, reviewed progress with governments, lenders and operators.
The corridor, known formally as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and widely as the Middle Corridor, links China and Europe through Central Asia and the South Caucasus, bypassing Russia. Container traffic through Kazakhstan rose in early 2026: 125 container trains transited in the first quarter, a 34.4 percent increase on the same period a year earlier, according to figures cited by industry trackers.
A work plan approved by route members in April set targets for the year, including 600 China-origin container trains through Kazakhstan and a shift to electronic documents and direct customs data exchange to cut transit times. Freight along the Middle Corridor through Kazakhstan has grown more than fivefold over seven years, to roughly 4.5 million tonnes a year.
Container-train transit through Kazakhstan rose more than a third in the first quarter, ahead of the route’s biggest meeting of the year.
Bottlenecks remain on the Caspian leg, where port capacity at Aktau and Kuryk and the supply of vessels cap throughput. Brussels has tied the corridor to its wider connectivity agenda with Central Asia, and the 23 June meeting is expected to take up financing and port infrastructure alongside digital customs.