Azerbaijan is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in shaping a new freight base within the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Andrey Nikitchenko, Advisor to the President and Chairman of VTB Bank and CEO of VTB Project Office LLC, said during an international roundtable in Baku focused on the development of Eurasia’s transport infrastructure and Azerbaijan's pivotal role in that process, according to Report.
"We have structured the project in such a way that both Azerbaijan and Iran have the opportunity to establish a new freight base—something that currently doesn't exist and is unlikely to emerge without the execution of this initiative," Nikitchenko said. "This project offers not only new revenue streams for business, but also helps address national development goals. It's not just a transport initiative—it's a driver of regional and macro-regional economic growth."
He emphasized that Azerbaijan's participation in the corridor could provide strategic access to rapidly growing markets in the Indian Ocean basin.
"Azerbaijan already has Caspian access, but gaining a route to the Indian Ocean opens up new opportunities for exporters targeting high-growth markets like India," he noted. "European markets remain profitable, but they're growing not so fast. The North–South Corridor offers Azerbaijan access to an entirely different scale of economic opportunity."
Nikitchenko also underscored Azerbaijan's potential to emerge as an industrial nucleus along the transport axis. He pointed to opportunities in raw material processing—from Belarus or Russia—followed by processing and export.
"With the Port of Alat, connections to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan—and with Abu Dhabi Ports Group already operating on the Kazakh side—the groundwork is in place for establishing a major industrial and logistics hub in the Alat region," he said. "For it to succeed, access to the Indian Ocean is critical."
He added that the project is not limited to Russian stakeholders and could attract manufacturers and investors from the United States and across Asia.