Global
Aliyev at Global Baku Forum: Middle Corridor Extension Through Armenia Will Transform the Region
March 17, 2026
4
Min
Baku, March 17, 2026 — President Ilham Aliyev used the platform of the 13th Global Baku Forum, themed "Bridging Divides in a World in Transition," to make his most explicit statement yet on the post-peace economic transformation of the South Caucasus. Speaking on March 12, Aliyev declared that Azerbaijan is actively working on a new extension of the Middle Corridor that will pass through Armenian territory — and that this development could turn Armenia into a transit country for the first time in its three decades of independence.
"Now we are working closely, after peace with Armenia, on a new extension of the Middle Corridor, which will go through the territory of Armenia," Aliyev told the Forum's opening session. He framed transportation as one of the central pillars of the post-peace agenda, alongside energy and economic cooperation. The statement is the most commercially significant since the August 2025 Trump-brokered peace framework, signalling Baku's active investment in making the TRIPP corridor operational rather than treating it as a geopolitical abstraction.
The logistics are moving on the ground. Since January 2026, Azerbaijan has shipped more than 10,000 tonnes of oil products to Armenia by rail through Georgia, along with over 22,000 tonnes of Russian grain and 610 tonnes of fertilizer. A train of 31 tank wagons departed from Azerbaijan to Armenia on March 11. According to Caspian News, this represents the first sustained Azerbaijani-Armenian rail commerce in decades. Azerbaijani FM Bayramov confirmed that approximately 12 kilometres of the Azerbaijan-Armenia border have now been delimited, proceeding from the trilateral Armenia-Azerbaijan-Georgia border point southward.
The full TRIPP route is taking shape. Azerbaijan's Horadiz-Aghband railway is being built to link up with TRIPP at the interstate border, continue across Armenia, and connect to the Nakhchivan rail system and onward into Turkey's network. Azerbaijan aims to complete its section by end-2026, while Yerevan and Washington are expected to break ground later this year. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, is exploring a new trade route to Turkey directly through Armenia and Nakhchivan. According to News.am, Kazakhstan's Deputy PM explicitly cited the need to bypass Georgia's Black Sea route and access Turkish seaports directly via Nakhchivan.
For investors, the Forum statement is a clear commercial signal. The combination of active rail commerce since January, ongoing border delimitation, and a confirmed construction timeline for the Azerbaijani section makes this the most credible near-term infrastructure story in the South Caucasus.
