At the end of a meeting between Pavlov and Jalili in Iran’s embassy in Moscow, the two sides announced that Russia and Iran are keen on removing obstacles in the way of construction of the transport corridor among Iran, Russia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Emphasizing the economic importance of the railroad project, they said that a substitute railway should be used for transportation of goods until the lack of railroad in Iran is resolved. To this end, Iran should complete 170 kilometers of railroad between the cities of Rasht and Astara in northern Gilan province.
The INSTC is going to link northern Europe to eastern Asia via Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The initial goal of the project is the annual transit of five million tons of commodities.
The Iranian envoy said that Russian and Iran enjoy a very strong railway connection and that the two parties hold constant discussions in a bid to expedite the implementation of the international project.
According to the trilateral agreement among Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, the Azeri side accepted to finance the part of railroading between Rasht and Astara, but the promise has not yet been executed.
For his part, Pavlov attached importance to the expansion of ties and cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, noting that the two sides discussed very significant issues such as the increase of Iranian transit potential as well as the development of the International North–South Transport Corridor.
The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for transporting freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
When the international transport corridor becomes operational, it is going to provide the countries with the opportunity to transit 10 million tons of goods and 3 million passengers per annum.
1424
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