Uzbekistan Eyes Caspian and Black Sea Ports to Break Out of Central Asia

Uzbek authorities are moving to place logistics footholds on the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas as part of a broader push to expand the country’s Middle Corridor trade connections. Tashkent and Tbilisi have signed an agreement to create Uzbek warehousing and transport operations at the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, and a feasibility study for that site is being planned, the president’s office said on September 21. Beyond Poti, Uzbek trade officials intend to participate in upgrading port infrastructure across the Caspian basin, citing potential involvement in projects at Aktau in Kazakhstan, Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan and Baku on Azerbaijan’s western shore. Uzbekistan has also signaled interest in the planned Anaklia port in Georgia, a project that has struggled with financing and construction delays since its inception. The government is pairing its external port strategy with domestic transport upgrades, including plans to fully electrify the national freight rail network, add high-speed rail segments and improve airport infrastructure. Officials are exploring regional rail projects as well, such as investment in refurbishing a railway section in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to facilitate access to Turkish ports at Samsun and Istanbul via a proposed TRIPP corridor linking Azerbaijan and Turkey through Armenian territory. Digitalization initiatives are central to the strategy: Tashkent aims to create a unified electronic transport system and registry, introduce real-time tracking for cross-border shipments and build an electronic permit database. The presidential statement framed these moves as necessary to reduce transit times and to shrink the share of shadow-market freight activity, which it said still exceeds 42 percent. The government links these reforms to trade targets that include doubling transport-service volumes by 2030 and raising service exports to $5.7 billion.