Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.5
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
The Iranian and Uzbek governments have discussed expanding cooperation among their railways.
"Iran and the Central Asian countries will increase their cooperation in the railway spheres," Fars quoted Deputy Manager of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR) Hossein Ashouri as saying Nov. 5. He spoke on the sidelines of a summit held in the Uzbek capital Tashkent to discuss railway cooperation between the Commonwealth of Independent states (CIS).
"Our purpose is to increase cooperation between Iran and Uzbekistan on activities regarding railways, and we plan to do so in 2016," Ashouri added.
He noted that Tehran and Tashkent already cooperate in transporting Uzbekistan's agricultural products to other countries.
A railway linking Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran began operating last December.
In 2007, an agreement on the construction of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway was signed, while construction work began in 2009.
The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway is part of the North-South international transport corridor, which joins the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea through Iran and then continues to St. Petersburg and northern Europe via Russia.