BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 18. Cargo sent regularly by railways from Russia will be transported through Azerbaijan to Iran’s Astara city in Gilan Province in the north of the country, Iranian ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali wrote on his Twitter page, Trend reports.
According to Jalali, in this regard, the Rasht-Astara railway line is planned to be launched in the near future.
The ambassador added that Iran and Russia intend to eliminate existing problems in cargo transportation in order to develop trade relations between the two countries. He said that positive results are being achieved in this direction.
The foundation of the ‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ was laid on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000.
In total, 13 countries have ratified the agreement, including Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Russia, Türkiye, etc.
The purpose of creating a corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo from India to Russia, as well as to North and West Europe. Delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks, it is expected to be reduced to 3 weeks via North-South Transport Corridor.
The 175 km long Qazvin-Rasht railway was officially put into operation on March 6, 2019, to connect Azerbaijani railways with the Iranian railway network within the corridor. In addition, the 167 km long Rasht-Astara railway line must be built in Iran.
In total, 200 trillion rials (about $4.76 billion) is needed for the construction of this railway line. Iran is interested in Russia's participation in providing funds for the construction of this railway.
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