"You know, we are today launching the report on unlocking the potential of the Middle Corridor, and that report focused on three countries that will essentially be part of the Middle Corridor. Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. Georgia has, of course, the role close to the Black Sea and towards Europe, and Azerbaijan, of course, is sitting right by the Caspian Sea, sitting across from Kazakhstan. All will be essential players in ensuring that this Middle Corridor, which is a land bridge between Asia and Europe, will be successful and sustainable if they decide to work collectively to that end," Rolande Pryce, World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus, told Paralel.Az.

"Absolutely. Now, I mean, for us, a corridor of this nature, it's connecting people, it's connecting markets, it's connecting, you know, it's essentially being a bridge. And we mean that not only between Asia and Europe, but also within the region. I think one of the key and interesting findings of the study is that intra-regionalization," she said.

Rolande Pryce noted that regional trade is going to increase maximally through this establishment of the Middle Corridor: "And Armenia, you know, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, these are all players that could be part of that. And so, we see this as a real opportunity for bringing all of the region closer together for regional development and inter-regional economic development.

The fact of the matter is we presently are restarting an engagement with Azerbaijan. We have been active there, but we are looking at a sort of new lending and a new pipeline. And we work in those areas that the bank and the government agree are the ones where they need our support. At the moment, we haven't had any decisions made on whether the bank will participate in those areas. But it's an open conversation about the areas where the World Bank would best be able to support the government. We are currently defining our new country partnership framework that will capture the pipeline of investments and the areas of support where the bank wants to collaborate with the government and vice versa."