Baku, Azerbaijan, July 16
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Passenger traffic between Iran and Azerbaijan via four custom checkpoints has decreased by 10.89 percent during the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 - June 20) compared to the same period of the preceding year.
The Iranian Custom Administration's latest report suggests that 666,602 people have passed the border checkpoints of Astara, Bilasuvar, Poldasht and Julfa between Iran and Azerbaijan during the period. The figure stood at 748,039 during the same period of last year (March 21 - June 20, 2013).
Bilasuvar topped the list of custom checkpoints between Iran and Azerbaijan so far this year, in terms of passenger traffic with 254,013 passengers, while Julfa had 194,627 passengers, Astara -182,823 passengers and Poldasht -35,139 passengers.
In the same three-month period of 2013, Bilasuvar custom checkpoint stood at the top of the list of passenger traffic between the two countries with 308,406 passengers, followed by Julfa- 233,940 passengers, Astara- 164,800 passengers and Poldasht-40,893 passengers.
Some 9.1 million people have passed in total through Iran's border checkpoints in the three-month period, which indicates a 9.47 percent increase over the same period of preceding year.
About 4.6 million people have entered the country, while some 4.46 million have exited from checkpoints during the period.
Gheshm airport, Imam Khomeini airport and Kish airport customs were the top three checkpoints in terms of passenger traffic with 2.23 million, 1.55 million and 937,500 passengers checking in and out during the period.