Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 7
By Huseyn Valiyev - Trend:
Following negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan and Iran have reached agreement on a number of important areas of economic cooperation, Azerbaijani Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev said during the Azerbaijani-Iranian business forum on Aug. 7.
"Some 10 important areas of economic cooperation were discussed during the ninth meeting of the Azerbaijani-Iranian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and humanitarian cooperation," the minister said.
"In particular, important agreements were reached in the field of transport, namely, the reconstruction of the North-South corridor and increasing its capacity," the minister added. "In this regard, the two governments will do their best."
"This means connecting the railways of Iran and Azerbaijan," he added.
"The matter rests in the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway," Mustafayev added. "The Iranian side completed about 80 percent of the construction of the Qazvin-Rasht line. Currently, the remaining part is being constructed."
A tripartite Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran consortium was created to open the "North-South" route.
"At present, the work is underway to create a Rasht-Astara section as part of the established working group," the minister added. "And we intend to accelerate the work in this direction."
Mustafayev added that Azerbaijan intends to complete the construction of its part of the railway line soon, which will be done in a short period of time.
"This will be an important part of the North-South Corridor," he added.
"The agreements on cooperation in the field of roads were also reached," he said. "Currently, a highway from Baku to Astara is being constructed. The government has taken all necessary measures. The sources of funding were determined. This highway will also be put into operation soon."
Moreover, Iran and Azerbaijan reached an agreement on cooperation in the field of land reclamation and power engineering. The matter rests in the construction of the Ordubad-Maraza system and hydro-electric power stations.
"The agreement on cooperation has been signed as part of this project," he said. "The Iranian side expressed its readiness to accelerate the ratification in the Iranian parliament."
He added that an agreement on the construction of Khudaferin and Maiden Tower water systems was reached. This is a very important project. Therefore, a decision was made to accelerate the signing of the document.