TEHRAN, Iran, November 12. The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines plans to expand ties with India, Trend reports citing IRIB.
According to IRIB, based on the negotiations and agreements made with the Indian Railways (IR), Iran is trying to export Indian products through North-South corridor to Russia and the CIS countries.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines has lunched regular container shipping lines from Western ports of India to the southern ports of Iran.
Russia, India, and Iran signed in 2000 an intergovernmental agreement to create a multimodal transport corridor, while later the number of participants increased to 14. The goal of the project is to attract the transit of cargo flows from India, Iran, and the Persian Gulf nations through Russian territory to Europe. As compared with the sea route via the Suez Canal, this route’s distance is twice as short, which brings down the costs.
Currently, the project unites several various transport systems of separate countries. India has invested around $2.1 billion in the project, with part of the sum spent on construction of transport infrastructure in Iran.