Photo via orient.tm
On November 4, Turkmenistan opened a 44-kilometer highway connecting Garabogaz to the border of Kazakhstan. President Serdar Berdimuhamedov launched the opening ceremony via video link, Orient.tm reported.
The new section forms part of the Turkmenbashi–Garabogaz–Kazakhstan border motorway, an integral link in the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC). The road provides direct access to the Kazakh frontier and was built to international standards, according to the report.
Construction of the 207-kilometer Turkmenbashi–Garabogaz highway began in November 2025, and work along that section remains underway.
Earlier today, Serdar Berdimuhamedov also broke ground on the 550-kilometer Ashgabat–Dashoguz highway, which is likewise designed to serve as a vital link in the North–South corridor.
Russia, India, and Iran signed the agreement establishing the North–South transport corridor on September 12, 2000, and it entered into force in May 2002. The project aims to provide an alternative freight route between South Asia, the Persian Gulf states, Russia, and Europe, cutting transit times and shipping costs compared with the traditional maritime route via the Suez Canal.
Other nations subsequently joined the pact, including Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey. Turkmenistan acceded to the agreement in 2023.
The INSTC is a multimodal network integrating rail, road, and maritime routes across three primary branches: the western route via Azerbaijan, the eastern route through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and the trans-Caspian route linking Russian and Iranian ports on the Caspian Sea.
