Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 19
By Gulgiz Muradova – Trend:
Developing the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) has been a shared priority for both India and Azerbaijan, Indian Ambassador Sanjay Rana told Trend in an interview.
The ambassador said the Corridor will address the lack of physical connectivity between the respective regions.
“For India the INSTC will provide the shortest and cheapest route to reach Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and CIS countries. India has been working with Iran to develop the Chabahar port as a modern port, which started working since November 2017. Azerbaijan has launched the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, which is a great development as it multiplies the options for transportation,” the ambassador said.
He stressed that these developments would have a multiplier impact on regional trade in coming years.
“Already the previous predications regarding the traffic volumes look modest and once the missing railway link in Iran is functional, the growth of cargo flowing between our regions would be well above the expectations,” the ambassador said.
The International North-South Transport Corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo per year through the corridor and over 10 million tons of cargo in the future.