6 Countries Pledge Faster Cargo Transfers on Eurasia-Europe Land Bridge
By Eurasianet - Oct 15, 2026, 3:00 PM CDT
- Railway officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan signed a protocol in Tashkent to cut transit times at intermodal nodes on the CASCA+ corridor.
- The agreement focuses on faster cargo transfers at Caspian and Black Sea ports, plus simpler tariff regimes and quicker customs clearance.
- Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia are separately in talks with Romania on a supplemental Black Sea route to extend CASCA+.
Six states participating in an initiative to improve a Eurasia-to-Europe trade corridor have agreed on measures to reduce transit times at intermodal nodes along the route.
Meeting in Tashkent on October 11, railway officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed a protocol to enhance the cost competitiveness of the CASCA+ corridor. The six states pledged to work on achieving efficiencies in transferring cargo from one mode of transport to another at Caspian and Black Sea ports.
The protocol also calls on the participating states to simplify tariff regimes and improve customs clearance procedures.
“This approach can attract new volumes of cargo and strengthen CASCA+’s status as one of the most reliable and fastest land bridges in Eurasia,” according to a commentary published by the Turkmen government-aligned news outlet Orient.tm.
The concept for the six-state CASCA+ route dates back to 2019, but efforts to develop the route got underway in earnest in June 2025. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have engaged Romania is discussions to create a supplemental route to CASCA+ that stretches across the Black Sea.
