Deemah Al Yahya: Azerbaijan natural hub for digital Middle Corridor

Azerbaijan is a natural location for establishing a digital corridor along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor – TITR), which may integrate digital trade, customs procedures, logistics, payments, and data exchange among the countries along the route, Deemah Al Yahya, Secretary-General of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), said in an interview with Report.

"Digital Corridors are one of the four pillars of DCO's 4-Year Agenda. It focuses on trusted connectivity, interoperability, secure data exchange, and the movement of digital talent. Our research shows that digital trade and policy harmonization could add around $2 billion in intra-DCO digital trade by 2028," she added.

"Azerbaijan already holds many of the building blocks. In the DCO's Digital Economy Navigator DEN 2025 Azerbaijan Focus Report, its digital governance scores 82.7 out of 100, which is frontier level. A transactional e-government portal, eProcurement, a national digital ID, and a customs online single window are all in operation. Those are the foundations of paperless customs and trusted cross-border transactions.

Azerbaijan connects the Caucasus, Central Asia, Europe and the Gulf. With the right partnerships, the Middle Corridor can carry data, payments and digital services as confidently as it carries goods," she said.

The full text of the interview is available here.