Lapis Lazuli is an international transit route opened in 2018 linking Afghanistan to Turkey via Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The name of the transport corridor comes from the color of mineral lapis lazuli, which was one of the main items of exports from Central Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa in ancient times.
Negotiations over the establishment of this new corridor date back to 2012 and continued for five years due to a number of factors in the region, including insecurity (growing domestic violence), economic instability across Central Asia, and a legacy of poorly developed infrastructure networks in the member countries involved.
Barriers to regional trade and transit and transaction costs will be reduced, in part, through a new Custom Integration Procedure and, between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, a new Cross-Border Transport Agreement.
[1][2] The corridor begins from Torghundi in western Herat Province of Afghanistan, and continues to the port (on the Caspian Sea) of Türkmenbaşy in Turkmenistan; after passing the Caspian Sea, the route continues on to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, and then connects onward to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, as well as the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi; finally, the corridor will connect to the cities of Kars and Istanbul, Turkey, at the entrance of Europe.