The European Union kicked off a high-level summit with top officials from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and other neighboring countries on October 20 as the bloc aims to make new inroads in a region where China and Russia wield longstanding influence.
At the top of the agenda is the Trans Caspian Transport Corridor – also known as the Middle Corridor – an emerging 6,500-kilometer-long trade route that connects China to Europe through Central Asia and the Caucasus by bypassing Russia.
The gathering in Luxembourg is “specifically focused on the issue of establishing a well-functioning so-called Middle Corridor stretching across the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea towards Central Asia,” Eduards Stiprais, the EU’s special representative for Central Asia, told RFE/RL in an interview.
The summit is something of a watershed for the 27-member EU as it looks to grow its regional standing at a time when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shifted the geopolitical balance and China’s economic expansion has left the region more integrated with Beijing.
According to a draft program for the summit seen by RFE/RL, the EU is hosting ministers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Georgia was also invited but declined to attend.
The aim of the summit is to launch a new regular format for diplomatic engagement focused on connectivity, trade, digital development, and energy around the Black Sea and the broader region.
“In response to the evolving geopolitical landscape, the EU is actively advancing cross-regional cooperation to foster stability, resilience, and prosperity,” the document states, which goes on to say that diversifying trade routes will “create economic opportunities” and “ultimately enhance regional security and stability.”
Stiprais says that the meeting will look to build on past summits and will focus on how best to use funds raised through the Global Gateway, the EU’s infrastructure partnership plan launched in 2021 that’s seen as an alternative to China’s worldwide Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
“The money is there,” he said. “The issues are where we need some political decisions and agreements on how to proceed, because we are speaking about crossing several borders and those are countries which over the previous 30 years were very much focused on asserting their sovereignty.”
Can The EU Deliver On The Middle Corridor?
At a much-lauded inaugural EU-Central Asia summit in April, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa met with the region’s five presidents and announced an additional 12-billion-euro ($14 billion) investment in the Global Gateway to kick-start a new digital and infrastructural development project.
Out of that total, 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) are earmarked for the Middle Corridor, which adds to a previous 10 billion euros ($11.6 billion) pledged in 2024.
Central Asian governments — and Kazakhstan in particular — are some of the biggest supporters of the Middle Corridor and see the trade route and deeper ties with Brussels as necessary steps to diversify their economies and lessen their political dependence on China and Russia.
The EU, a single market of 27 countries, is the region’s biggest foreign investor, but questions remain over how big a player Brussels can be in Central Asia.
“Central Asia wants more EU involvement, but regional leaders are not overly optimistic,” Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Eurasia Center in Berlin, told RFE/RL. “The EU hasn’t yet provided the kind of funding that would make it a true ‘third player’ helping the region rely less on Russia and China.”
Roman Vassilenko, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the EU and NATO, told RFE/RL that investments around the Middle Corridor are still “in the early stages” as they prepare feasibility studies and that an EU-Central Asia Economic Forum scheduled for November in Uzbekistan will be an important litmus test.
Still, Vassilenko says he is optimistic about the Middle Corridor’s future and what it represents for Kazakhstan. He pointed to new rail projects built in the country and a 35-million-euro loan ($41 million) Astana received from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to upgrade infrastructure at the port of Aqtau, a Kazakh city on the Caspian Sea that is one of the most critical links in the corridor.
“The current geopolitical situation actually allows Kazakhstan to become a genuine bridge between East and West,” Vassilenko said.
What Obstacles Remain For Brussels?
EU officials involved in preparing for the summit in Luxembourg told RFE/RL that the new regional format is seen as “quite significant” in Brussels.
One EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the summit could be the start of “a replacement for the Eastern Partnership,” the bloc’s previous initiative for engaging with countries on its eastern borders.
But Brussels will need to overcome decades of entrenched influence from Beijing and Moscow if it is to grow its clout in the region.
Despite its attention being focused on its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is still an important political player, and China has grown into a leading trade partner and top foreign investor.
In Central Asia, bilateral trade with China, the region’s largest individual trade partner, has been rising steadily in recent years, hitting a record high of $94.8 billion in 2024.
Beyond Central Asia, Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party has pivoted closer to Russia and seen its relations with the EU deteriorate in recent years.
Tbilisi has also increasingly relied on China for infrastructure investment by turning to state-backed Chinese firms over European bids to build its $1 billion cross-country highway. Georgia also announced in May that a Chinese consortium won the contract to build a deep-sea port in Anaklia on the Black Sea.
Few details have emerged about Anaklia since the Georgian government’s announcement, but the port is seen as a crucial part of the Middle Corridor if the route is to function as projected.
Stiprais, the EU special representative for Central Asia, says that the bloc is in a “symbolic competition” with China and Russia when it comes to developing trade routes and infrastructure across the region, but that “there is plenty of space for everybody in this endeavor.”
“There are some advantages that we have compared to both China and Russia,” he said. “And one thing is the quality of our investments [and] that they are coming with very clearly delineated conditions.”
