Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 6
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
One of main issues on the agenda of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Iran, which ended on March 5, became, as expected, the project of the International North-South Transport Corridor, which is jointly implemented by Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran, and is important not only for the countries, involved in its implementation, but also for the entire region.
There is no coincidence that while making statements for the press after the ceremony of signing documents with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, Ilham Aliyev called this project as a historical event.
Azerbaijan is particularly interested in the project’s implementation, because the country is located at the intersection of two major international transport corridors – from north to south and from east to west and strategically plays the role of a bridge between the two civilizations.
Meanwhile, this corridor, the creation idea of which exists for more than 15 years, is becoming more tangible and building “muscles”.
Thus, an 8.3-kilometer section of the railway from Astara (Azerbaijan) to the border with Iran and a border railway bridge over the Astarachay River were built only during 2016.
President Aliyev’s visit took place just a day after that the first test train was launched on the border railway bridge over the Astarachay River which marked the successful commissioning of this facility.
The 82.5-meter long and 11.8-meter wide bridge was built and commissioned in less than a year. This fact is a vivid evidence of how implementation of this project, which finally connected the Azerbaijani, Iranian and Russian railways, was accelerated.
A 600-meter long section has already been laid on the Iranian side. Work is now being carried out at accelerated pace there. In particular, a railway station and a terminal for transshipment of cargo are being constructed in an area of 35 hectares. Earthwork is being carried out and drainage systems are being built in the area.
Ilham Aliyev also noted the fact that the North-South project makes a significant contribution to the regional cooperation, as the number of trilateral formats is now increasing in the region.
The project will also provide an important impulse for effective development of the economies of not only the three main participating countries. Other countries will also join the project as participants, which will allow establishing considerable trade turnover between the Northern Europe and Southeast Asia. In particular, Ukraine and Estonia have already expressed interest in joining the corridor.
The forecasts are that in case the North-South corridor operates at full capacity, it will create opportunities for Russia, European, Caucasian and Central Asian countries to access the Persian Gulf and India, as well as intensify trade relations between the Caspian littoral countries and Black Sea ports.
---
Maksim Tsurkov is Trend Agency’s staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov