The Trans-Caspian Trade and Transit Corridor is a regional integrator, trade facilitator, and viable transit connector between Europe and Asia. Comprising of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey to the west, and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan to the east of the Caspian Sea, this corridor brings together more than 200 million strong market and 400 billion in overall trade while connecting economies of the European Union and China along with access to Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and India.

Connecting trade, people, and economies, the modern Trans-Caspian corridor has matured to strategic importance with an extensive and integrated network of infrastructure, special economic zones, harmonized customs, cross-border procedures, and more along this route.

The United States has been playing an important role in the development of this corridor through joint initiatives to increase regional connectivity through oil and gas pipelines, to facilitate intra-regional cooperation and trade such as the Baku-TbilisiCeyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Southern Gas Corridor, Lapis-Lazuli transport route and “C5+1” format. While these initiatives contributed to the increased business between the United States and the corridor countries concerned, the emerging business potential of the corridor is underexplored and trade with the U.S. is significantly lagging behind in comparison with the EU and China.

Building on the strategic partnerships forged between the U.S. and the corridor countries concerned and emerging business potential of the region, the 4th TransCaspian Forum presents a leading platform to discuss the U.S. engagement with the strategically important Trans-Caspian corridor including investments and development of strategic infrastructure for benefiting the U.S., the corridor countries and the business community concerned.

Policy and business leaders from the U.S. and the Trans-Caspian corridor countries come together at the Trans-Caspian Forum to discuss opportunities and challenges in enhancing their strategic engagement and explore business, trade, and investment opportunities to the benefit of all concerned. The Caspian Policy Center and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are the co-organizers of the Forum, along with the Embassies of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.