Kazakhstan and Georgia Forge Closer Ties to Strengthen Middle Corridor Capacity

Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev travelled to Tbilisi on 7 April for high-level talks with his Georgian counterpart, describing Georgia as a key link in the Europe-Asia transport architecture and pledging to work together to raise corridor capacity, improve service predictability, and ensure greater tariff transparency across the Middle Corridor route. The visit reflects Astana's deepening strategic interest in Georgia as its primary maritime and land gateway to European markets.

The two ministers discussed a range of bilateral infrastructure and economic cooperation initiatives, including expanded Kazakh grain transit through Georgia's Black Sea ports, deeper integration between Georgian and Kazakh logistics companies, and potential Kazakh investment in Georgian free industrial zones. Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, is understood to have conducted initial due diligence on logistics real estate opportunities near the Poti port complex, which handles the largest share of Kazakhstan's European exports.

Georgia's strategic importance to Kazakhstan has grown substantially since 2022. Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a significant portion of Kazakh goods destined for Europe travelled via Russian territory. The closure of those routes, combined with the Western sanctions environment, created an urgent need for Kazakhstan to develop alternative corridors. Georgia, sitting between the Caspian and the Black Sea, became the indispensable hinge point — and its ports of Poti and Batumi have responded by rapidly expanding capacity.

Kazakhstan has been the largest single source of freight volume growth on the Middle Corridor over the past three years. Kazakh grain, copper, uranium oxide, and manufactured goods now account for a substantial share of the corridor's 5 million-ton annual throughput. The Kazakh-Georgian relationship has evolved from a transit arrangement to something closer to a strategic partnership, with Astana increasingly treating Tbilisi as a co-shaper of corridor governance.

The ministers also discussed digital integration, agreeing in principle to work toward interconnected cargo tracking systems that would allow shippers to monitor Middle Corridor consignments in real time across the Kazakhstan-Caspian-Georgia-Turkey segment. Such systems are already in operation on the Chinese end of the corridor and on the European end; the gap in the South Caucasus section has been a recurring complaint from major logistics operators.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who met with the Kazakh minister separately, announced that Georgia would complete an expansion of the Poti port's container terminal by the end of 2026, funded in part by a new EBRD credit facility. The expansion will increase Poti's container capacity by approximately 40 percent and add refrigerated storage facilities that will allow Georgian agricultural exports to benefit from the same infrastructure that currently handles Kazakh transit cargo.

For Central Asian countries watching Kazakhstan's Middle Corridor deepening with Georgia, the message is clear: investing in the South Caucasus corridor is now a strategic imperative rather than an option.

Further Reading:
Middle Corridor Freight Volumes Set to Rise 10% in 2026, OTS Summit Projects
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Upgrade Unlocks New South Caucasus Freight Capacity