BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
Uzbekistan and Iran discussed the importance to intensify cooperation in the transport and communication sphere, including the effective use of Iranian seaports and the development of the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman transport corridor, Trend reports referring to the press service of the president of Uzbekistan.
On April 5, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is in Uzbekistan on a working visit.
During the meeting, special attention was paid to issues of economic cooperation, development of trade relations and promotion of new cooperation projects.
It is reported that the importance of building up cooperation in the transport and communication sphere, including the effective involvement of Iranian seaports and the development of the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman transport corridor, was noted at the meeting.
Earlier, the director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the president of Uzbekistan Eldor Aripov spoke about the importance of implementing the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project (following the meeting of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan) and explained why it is not correct to compare this project with the Mazar-i-Sharif - Herat route.
According to Aripov, corridors in the direction of Iranian ports, more precisely, the port of Bandar Abbas, already exist, and transportation along them has been established. Today, Uzbekistan's foreign trade cargo is delivered to Bandar Abbas via three railway and two road routes.
“Last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic, transit in the Iranian direction increased by 5 percent, and by rail - by 31 percent,” the expert noted.
At the same time, he admitted that the Pakistani route differs from the Iranian route by the more attractive cost of cargo transportation. According to preliminary expert calculations, the cost of transporting a container from Tashkent to Karachi (a port city in Pakistan) will amount approximately to $1,400-1,600, while on the Tashkent-Bandar-Abbas route - $2,600-3,000, which is almost 1.5-2 times less.
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