Iranian deputy transport minister and his Russian counterpart in a meeting in Moscow discussed ways to facilitate the two-way transit, the Mehr News Agency reported on Wednesday.
Shahriar Afandizadeh, the Iranian official, emphasized on the promotion of transportation ties, particularly in the field of road transit through the North-South Corridor agreement.
Referring to Iran's strategic situation as a hub along the Euro-Asian transit routes, he added that the ministry has placed top priority to develop the transit sector through establishing safe, secure, and cheap transit means.
The Russian officials, Sergey Aristov for his part said that the Transportation Ministry of the Russian Federation has consented to reopen the Dagestan border on Iranian trucks as a move to help boost the Iran-Russia transit, but the final decision is contingent upon the approval of some other related bodies.
The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a multi modal transportation route established on September 2000 in St. Petersburg, by Iran, Russia and India for the purpose of promoting transportation cooperation among the three member states.
The INSTC was later expanded to include eleven new members, namely Republics of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Syria, Bulgaria and Sultanate of Oman.
This corridor connects the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, and extends to north Europe via the Russian Federation.