Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 24
By Elnur Baghishov, Fikret Dolukhanov - Trend:
Connection of Uzbekistan to Chabahar sea port through Iran's railway system will give impetus to the development of trade and economic relations and will contribute to the expansion of products transit between the two countries, IRNA reported citing First Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Railways Fazliddin Sagdullayev.
According to him, the Uzbekistan-Chabahar railway may play crucial role in high volume transit between Iran and Uzbekistan and satisfaction of the countries' demand in products.
Sagdullayev added that connection of the Hairatan-Mazari Sharif-Herat-Khavaf road to Iran's railway system is vital for railway cooperation between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
He also noted that the Chabahar sea port has big capacity and modern equipment.
The Uzbek official said that the Uzbekistan-Chabahar transit route is cost-effective and safe both for imports and exports.
"Uzbekistan satisfies demand in numerous spheres by importing from Iran and is interested in having access to the World Ocean through the Chabahar port," Sagdullayev said.
He added that over 40 percent of work on the Chabahar-Zahidan railway has already been completed and will end up in connecting to the Sarakhs (a town in Iran on border with Turkmenistan known as an historic point of the Great Silk Road) and accessing the Central Asian countries later on.
In January-September 2018, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Iran amounted to $228.5 million, of which $135.8 million accounted for exports from Uzbekistan, and $92.7 million for imports from Iran.