BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. The number of trucks crossing through Iran’s Astara border terminal in the north of the country increased by 18 percent, during the last 2 months (November 6, 2022 through January 5, 2023), compared to the same period last year, Director General of the Transit and International Affairs Department of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization (RMTO) Javad Hedayati told IRNA, Trend reports.
The director general said that in total, over 16,000 trucks crossed through the Astara border terminal for the purposes of export, import and transit, within 2 months.
Hedayati added that, on average, 400 trucks cross through Iran's Astara border terminal daily under normal conditions. Meanwhile, since mid-November, non-oil exports from Iran to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia have been increasing. As the Volga-Don canal freezes every year in winter, the border terminal of Astara gets crowded.
“As Astara border terminal is located on the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), it is one of the important terminals for transporting products to Russia and Georgia through Azerbaijan, and is considered the 3rd most active commercial border terminal,” he noted.
Astara border terminal is located on the border between Iran and Azerbaijan.
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.
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