Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 18
Trend:
Belarusian Railway state association and Azerbaijan Railways CJSC signed an agreement on mutually beneficial cooperation following the 11th meeting of the Belarus-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, BelTA reported.
Head of Belarusian Railway Vladimir Morozov said that the interaction of the railways of the two countries is of traditional nature and the new agreement was signed not only to formalize the existing cooperation, but also to give it a new impetus.
"This implies the creation of the most comfortable, sustainable transport links between Belarus and Azerbaijan. What is especially important is the development of the North-South corridor, the creation of conditions for the movement of goods from India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus. The agreement involves the creation of working groups on tariff and technological spheres. Around 96 percent of goods in trade between two countries are moving by rail. We are interested in having as many of them as possible. This requires fair tariffs, good logistics services and rolling stock, as well as the efficient work of the two railway administrations. The lion's share of the transit corridor runs through the Russian Federation. We work with partners so that tariff and technology policies are agreed," he said.
The North-South transport corridor is designed to connect Northern Europe with India and Southeast Asia. The route will also connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
At an initial stage, six million tons of cargo are planned to be transported through the corridor per year, with the possibility of rising this figure to 15-20 million tons in the future.