Eurasian Development Bank recommends soft infrastructure measures to popularise INSTC
Air transport is the only one direct option, but is useful only for expensive or perishable goods. The bulk of goods are delivered via Suez and Black Sea ports (Novorossiysk or others). As a result, the cargo travels triple the distance and several overloads along the route. High transport and logistics costs hinder the competitiveness of goods and the volume of mutual trade.
Until now, the volume of mutual trade between India, Russia and Central Asia has been not so large (for example, $3.2 billion between India and five Central Asian countries in 2022). The obstacle is over huge delivery distances through the ports of the Black Sea or the Far East (7-10 thousand km).
The INSTC is more shorter – 4700 km from Mumbai Nova Sheva to Tashkent. It could lead to the revival of trade and investment in Central Asia from India. There are already political agreements (for example, the Joint Turkmen-Indian statement during the state visit of the President of the Republic of India to Turkmenistan, by April 2, 2022).
The operationalisation of the multimodal International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is an important element of strategy aimed to expansion of trade and economic cooperation between India, Russia and Central Asian states.
Of course, the INSTC will not be able to completely replace the entire cargo flow through the Suez Canal, but the establishment creation of an alternative will also be very important for the smooth trade and transport operations.
It is important to create reliable and high-quality
