Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 12 / Trend F.Mehdi/
Iran, Iraq, and Syria have signed an agreement to expand cooperation through boosting transit of goods through joint borders, the Fars News Agency quoted Iranian Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister Shahryar Afandizadeh as saying.
The agreement was inked last week in Tehran, Afandizadeh said, adding that official of the three countries agreed to facilitate border trade and expand border terminals.
Another agreement will be signed in the near future by Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Oman, and Qatar in order to boost transit of goods from Chabahar Port to the CIS countries, he noted.
In October of 2012, Afandizadeh said that the volume of transited goods via Iran has increased by 75 percent compared to four years ago.
Afandizadeh told IRNA that over 5.8 million tons of goods were transited via Iran in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, showing 25 percent growth year on year.
He added that 2.4 million tons of the transited goods were oil products and the rest were non-oil products.
The highest volume of the transited goods was related to transiting 1.8 million tons of goods from Iraq to UAE.
Afandizadeh said that more than 100 countries are currently transiting their goods via Iran.