Features

The Red Sea links the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean and serves as an important trade route for Asia, Europe, and Africa. However, this strategic waterway faces ongoing geopolitical tensions and security issues. Hostile acts against vessels, including oil tankers and cargo ships, have raised concerns over maritime safety and potential environmental and economic impacts. These events have constrained container traffic, increased transit times and shipping costs, and disrupted global commerce, supply chains, trade, and development.

In a world where 90% of global trade is moved by sea, the landlocked economies of Central Asia almost exclusively rely on rail and road transport for trade. Much of the long-distance cargo moves via existing rail networks, which have substantial potential to facilitate trade in the region and beyond, including between European, Middle Eastern and South/East Asian markets. Rail transport is also cheaper, safer, and less prone to border delays.

Inadequate infrastructure, outdated equipment, and an inefficient bureaucracy are common in many road border posts in Central Asia. These challenges slow down the trade flow in the region and beyond at the expense of consumers. Money and time spent at these land gates are extensive and have increased substantially over the last years.