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Russia eyes India’s joining North-South transport corridor talks (exclusive)

Business Materials 6 August 2016 13:16 (UTC +04:00)
It is necessary to attract India to the discussions regarding optimal conditions for delivery of goods and development of the North-South International Transport Corridor, First Vice President of Russian Railways Alexander Misharin told Trend in an interview Aug. 6.

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 6

By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:

It is necessary to attract India to the discussions regarding optimal conditions for delivery of goods and development of the North-South International Transport Corridor, First Vice President of Russian Railways Alexander Misharin told Trend in an interview Aug. 6.

“This will allow comprehensive elaboration of a full range of issues related to the transport of goods, as well as simplify the process of coordination and approval of the agreements reached between all parties,” he said.

According to Misharin, all the sides of the North-South corridor project are making significant efforts to create the necessary conditions to attract cargo to this route.

He noted that Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have repeatedly confirmed their interest in cooperation in the container cargo transportation, maintenance, handling and storage in the territory of Azerbaijan and Iran within North-South transport corridor.

“Currently, we have an agreement with Azerbaijani and Iranian partners on presentation and promotion of joint transport products to potential buyers and cargo sellers,” he said. “We have decided to strengthen the collaboration of logistics operators of the three countries. In addition, we have agreed to continue work on formation of a coherent tariff policy and cargo attraction to the North-South International Transport Corridor.”

First vice-president of Russian Railways reminded that in May 2016, heads of Russian and Iranian railways agreed to send a test container train from Iranian city of Bandar Abbas to Moscow and a corresponding working group was created.

“Currently, the containers are in India; a transport scheme, including alternative solutions on cargo transportation through Iran, has been prepared. Test launch of the container train on the Bandar Abbas-Moscow route will reveal possible issues and bottlenecks of the transportation via this route,” he said.

“Following the train’s run, we believe it will be possible to generate proposals regarding unified conditions of customs clearance of goods, terms, cost of delivery, as well as terms of transit passage of cargo via the International North-South Transport Corridor through the territory of Azerbaijan,” Misharin said.

The North-South transportation corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

At the initial stage, the North-South corridor will transport 5 million tons of cargo per year with further expansion of transportation to over 10 million tons.

Edited by EA

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