Doha, September 29 (QNA) - Participants in a panel discussion as part of the final day of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Annual Meeting stressed the importance of moving beyond isolated national infrastructure projects and developing an integrated regional network of cross-border transport and trade links that supports trade and investment and strengthens economic resilience and shared prosperity.

The session brought together HE Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy and AIIB Governor for the Republic of Azerbaijan Mikayil Jabbarov, President of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank Serhat Koksal, Georgia's Deputy Minister of Finance Ekaterine Guntsadze, member of the AIIB International Advisory Panel and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Yukon Huang, AIIB Chief Investment Officer Konstantin Limitovskiy, and Director General at Turkiye's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Yalcin Eyigun.

The speakers noted that realizing the full potential of regional connectivity requires going beyond physical infrastructure alone. It entails developing integrated transport and logistics networks, building stronger regional cooperation, harnessing digital innovation, and providing innovative financing solutions that connect markets and communities with cross-border investment opportunities.

The session highlighted practical examples, foremost among them the Middle Corridor for transporting goods between Asia and Europe. Discussions examined how such corridors could be developed beyond the scope of individual national investments and transformed into coordinated regional systems connecting Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe with global markets.

The discussions also addressed how railways, ports, logistics hubs and digital technologies can be integrated to facilitate trade flows and strengthen economic resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges and supply chain disruptions.

Discussions centered on planning national projects along economic corridors as part of a unified regional investment program, while reviewing the physical and procedural requirements needed to make these corridors more reliable and competitive.

Participants also addressed the importance of coordination among governments and commitment to implementation, as well as mobilizing private capital to work alongside public financing.

In this context, participants stressed the role of regional cooperation and joint government coordination among countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia in strengthening economic security and ensuring the sustainability of trade flows, while emphasizing the need to align national plans with broader regional objectives.

The session, which opened with a visual presentation showing that trade between the two continents reached USD 850 billion in 2025 and continues to grow, with the potential to create jobs, open markets and boost productivity, concluded that transport corridors are no longer merely physical routes. Rather, they have become economic platforms that generate added value when their physical infrastructure is integrated with digital infrastructure and financing solutions, and that building sustainable regional resilience depends on coordinated planning that extends beyond national borders. (QNA)