TEHRAN, Iran, Aug. 4
Trend:
Iran's Astara County has capacities to improve Iran's economy and contribute to regional trade development, representative of Astara County in the parliament Gholamreza Marhaba told Trend.
"Utilizing trade and economic capacities of Astara County would not only improve the businesses in the county; it will directly effect the economy of Gilan Province and Iran, so officials should provide necessary assistance in this regard" he said.
"Coronavirus spread has overshadowed global economy including Iran and led to unemployment of citizens that were involved in border trade," he said. "Creating sustainable jobs in border regions should be seriously considered by officials to avoid problems in country's border regions. Astara County is one of the safest regions to invest due to its high security in the border and its friendly relation with Azerbaijan."
"Reviving a market for Iranian goods in Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asian countries and Caucasus should be on the exporters' agenda. Economic capacities of Astara include port and railway that should be used properly. Hopefully, Azerbaijan will fulfill its commitment in ensuring railway access to the waterfront in Astara," he said.
"Astara Port is also expected to carry out dredging work to open the path for movement of all commercial ships, and the county also seeks to obtain customs code for Astara Port Special Economic Zone," Latifi added.
Astara County is located in west of Gilan province and shares three borders with Azerbaijan via land, sea and railway.
Iran exported 41,535 tons of commodities to Azerbaijan from its northern Astara railway terminal during the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 20,2020).
In January 2018, the two countries announced that will jointly fund the construction of Rasht-Astara section in northern Iran. It was agreed that each country will cover 50% of the necessary investment.
Azerbaijan and Iran have agreed to build a railway between Rasht and Astara which will be part of the International North–South Transport Corridor. The decision was taken at the 4th meeting of the Working Group on the development of the North-South Western route of the International Transport Corridor held in Baku.