Transport and logistics corridor “North-South” in the structure of new international economic relations

The expert opinion was prepared based on the results of the SPIEF-2023 session “Development of economic cooperation within the framework of the international transport corridor “North — South”. Road transport as an important part of multimodal transportation."

Conditions and factors for the formation of a new transport and logistics corridor "North-South"

In 2021 — 2023 As a result of the intensification of various forms of political and sanctioned economic pressure from the United States and EU countries on Russia, fundamental changes have occurred in the formation of international global and macro-regional markets that ensure the economic, food and energy security of the Russian Federation and the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This determines the objective reasons for the need to form new transport and logistics corridors, taking into account the economic interests of a significant number of countries in the economic space of the new “corridors”.

Since the beginning of the 2020s, global food markets have experienced an unprecedented rise in prices. This creates the possibility of a risk of global hunger for individual macro-regions and countries.

To traditional risk factors, such as long-term and short-term changes in climatic conditions and water resource shortages for individual regions and countries, new factors have been added associated with changes in technological, technical and socio-economic conditions for the functioning of enterprises in the agro-industrial sector, as well as open political pressure, both at the global level and at the level of individual countries.

The existing system of interstate payments has been practically destroyed. The “traditional” rules have been significantly disrupted. logistics chains in the agro-industrial sector: seeds, semi-finished and finished products, fertilizers, feed, pharmaceutical products, agricultural machinery and “components”, packaging materials, etc.

Currently, Russia is becoming one of the main players in the international markets for various products of the agro-industrial complex (AIC). In modern conditions, “integrating” activity is increasing. Russia's role in the work of international organizations such as BRICS+ and SCO+. At the same time, the agro-industrial sector is of particular importance in this regard. Considering that the countries of these international associations are able to dominate a number of agricultural markets (cereals, rice, soybeans, meat and fish products, tea, coffee, cotton, silk, mineral fertilizers, feed for aquaculture and livestock), the prospect of forming new international markets for agro-industrial products opens up. sectors of the international economy without the participation of “unfriendly” companies countries Moreover, as a rule, such companies perform intermediary functions.

At the same time, the traditional ports for export-import operations in the sector of agro-industrial products between Russia and the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America are the Baltic and Black Sea ports serving the Baltic-Atlantic and Black Sea-Mediterranean transport and logistics corridors. Currently, a number of political and economic risks arise in ensuring the required level of transport and logistics operations in these corridors. Payments for navigating ships through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits are constantly growing. To this must be added the congestion of the Suez Canal.

Under these conditions, the most promising transport and logistics corridor, capable of having a significant impact on the formation of “common” markets of the agro-industrial sector is becoming a transport and logistics corridor "North-South". At the same time, it is necessary to consider not only the countries of the Caspian macroregion (Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran), but also the countries of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) as full participants in the North-South corridor, in its traditional understanding. And potentially — Armenia and Georgia.

This transport and logistics corridor plays a vital role in the development of foreign economic relations with the countries of the economic space of the Indian Ocean region: Iran, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, other countries of the Persian Gulf, India, Bangladesh, countries of East and South Africa . It is thanks to this corridor that prospects are opening up for the formation of common markets for agricultural products with the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including within the framework of the BRICS+ and SCO+ associations.

Mehrdad Bazrpash, Minister of Transport and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, DP World, spoke about this in their speeches.

It is necessary to take into account that an important factor in the prospects of the North-South corridor is that it is in the southern regions of Russia and the countries of the Caspian macroregion that a significant part of the most important agricultural products is formed: grains, mineral fertilizers, etc., which increases the sustainability of the corridor's functioning" North-South."

Of course, when assessing the prospects for the operation of the North-South transport and logistics corridor, we must not forget about the products of other production sectors: timber and mining complexes, chemical industry, mechanical engineering, etc.

Transport in supporting the activities of the North-South transport and logistics corridor

The most important thing in ensuring the functioning of the North-South transport and logistics corridor is the system of organizing transport services and creating the appropriate infrastructure. Moreover, the solution to these problems must be considered from two perspectives: international and sectoral.

Currently, the main transport serving the North-South corridor is road transport. Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sinara JSC — Transport Machines" Alexander Misharin indicated that in 2022 the volume of road freight increased by 2.5 times.

Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Savelyev indicated that last year 5.2 million tons were transported by road along the ITC. In 2023, an increase to 5.5 million tons is expected, with a further increase to 6.5 million tons by 2030. Therefore, the most important prospects for increasing the competitiveness of the international transport corridor "North-South" are connected, on the one hand, with the reorganization of transport infrastructure, including its direct modernization, arrangement of checkpoints at the borders, warehouse infrastructure, reconstruction and development of the roadway, etc.

General Director of the Association of International Road Carriers (ASMAP), Andrey Kurushin, pointed out the possibility of introducing an electronic queue system in the Russian Federation at the busiest checkpoints. Which could be extremely promising for the North-South corridor, given the need for transport to cross a number of interstate borders.

On the other hand, harmonization of the regulatory and tariff frameworks at the international level is necessary.

One of the most important problems in the successful operation of the North-South transport and logistics corridor is the need for transshipment work from one mode of transport to another (river, road, rail, sea). Expanding the use of container shipping can largely mitigate this problem. A more vigorous introduction of container transportation for various types of products, including grain, significantly expands the possibilities of using various types of transport, making it possible to simultaneously solve other problems — reduction of transportation costs, use of various types of fuel, etc.

Railway transport should play an important role in increasing the competitiveness of the North-South international transport corridor. In his speech at the session, the General Director — Chairman of the Board, JSC Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov pointed out that last year the number of containers transported by rail increased threefold.

Caspian macroregion in the structure of the North-South transport and logistics corridor

The Caspian macroregion, which unites Russian regions with access to the Caspian Sea (the republics of Kalmykia and Dagestan, Astrakhan region) and the Caspian countries (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran) can become an important “model” region of international cooperation. Common economic goals determine the interests of accelerating the processes of sustainable economic development based on food and energy security. This determines the common interests of these countries in increasing the competitiveness of the North-South international transport corridor.

Given that the countries of the Caspian macroregion have significant natural gas resources, the possibility arises of transferring the transport sector of this region to gas motor fuel. The formation and activation of new transport and logistics corridors will allow the countries of the Caspian macroregion and Central Asia to significantly participate in the organization of common markets for agricultural products and natural gas of the BRICS+ and SCO+ countries. The special geographical location and resource potential of Russia and other countries of the economic space of the Caspian transport corridor allow us to talk about a “window of opportunity” in the context of the rapid development and reorientation of existing transport and logistics routes to new vectors.

Considering that the basic goal of interstate cooperation is to create conditions for the significant use of the economic and technological potential of countries in order to ensure sustainable economic development, strengthen financial and social stability, the most promising areas of international interaction in the economic space of the North-South transport and logistics corridor " are the following areas in the field of creating food, energy and environmental security:

• Formation of “open” energy and food markets in areas dominated by the BRICS+ and SCO+ countries, independent of sanctions instruments that provide advantages to individual companies and countries.
• Formation of “open” markets for products and services that ensure the functioning of the agro-industrial complex, such as agricultural engineering (taking into account the development of modern robotization processes), waste processing (including bioenergy). Fertilizer (organic and chemical) and feed markets play a special role.
• Formation of a common international transport complex of the countries of the Caspian macroregion and Central Asia based on gas motor fuel.

International cooperation of countries united by the economic space of the North-South transport corridor in the field of harmonization of the regulatory framework and transport tariffs can become the basis for the dissemination of this experience in other international associations.