DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, November 10. Tajikistan and Iran have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on international freight transportation and transit through the Iranian port of Chabahar, Trend reports.
The signing ceremony involved Tajikistan's Minister of Transport, Azim Ibrohim, and Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The agreement was reached following negotiations between Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon and Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi during Raisi’s visit to Tajikistan.
The memorandum outlines various measures to enhance the efficiency of transport routes passing through the Chabahar port. These measures include simplifying and coordinating procedures, mutually reducing duties and fees on road transport, attracting cargoes from other countries to routes crossing the Chabahar port, and collaborating on mutual investments in transport infrastructure projects along the Chabahar routes.
Furthermore, it stresses on international standards for passenger transit, traffic flow, cargo storage, and environmental protection.
The parties have agreed to form a steering committee to coordinate and manage the agreed-upon activities in order to fulfill the goals of the memorandum.
President Rahmon highlighted during a Tajik-Iranian forum that optimizing road transport along the Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran route and leveraging the potential of the Chabahar port would facilitate expanded economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran.
The Chabahar port holds strategic importance due to its direct access to the Indian Ocean. Tajikistan has the opportunity to join other nations in utilizing the Chabahar port through the international multimodal corridor "China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Türiye-Europe".