Tehran, Iran, Dec. 22
Trend:
Azerbaijan has offered Iran to use the North-South transport corridor for transporting cargo to the Black Sea, Trend correspondent reported from Tehran.
The proposal was put forward during the 10th meeting of Iran-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission on economic, trade and humanitarian cooperation that kicked off in Tehran Dec.21.
Co-chairs of the intergovernmental commission are the Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev from Azerbaijan and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi from Iran.
During the meeting, the Iranian side has been proposed to use the North-South transport corridor and Azerbaijan's transport infrastructure for transporting its goods to Russia, as well as to the West - Black Sea - through Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The North-South railway will link Northern Europe with South-Eastern Asia. It will serve as a link between the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
The project envisages construction of a cross-border railway bridge between Iranian and Azerbaijani Astara and 8-kilometers-long branch on Azerbaijan's territory.
The railway's capacity will be 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million tons of cargo per year, according to the preliminary estimates. Moreover, 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be built along the railway.
At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo via the North-South corridor per year.
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