Farzaneh Sadegh, Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and Chairman of the National Committee for Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan, told Trend in an exclusive interview that Iran is paying special attention to the construction of the Rasht-Astara Railway in the north of the country as one of the key projects within the framework of the North-South International Transport Corridor.
The Iranian minister stressed that the project, which has received attention in recent months and is expected to be completed at an accelerated pace, is the Rasht-Astara rail link.
“The Rasht-Astara railway is part of the development of the North-South International Transport Corridor. There is no railway in this section of the corridor. The Iranian side will complete the purchase procedure for the land on which the railway will run by the end of the year. The Russian side has started considering the issue of railway construction, the minister stressed.
According to her, the Baku conference on economy and trade held between Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia was effective. Its preparation took a long time. The decisions taken at the conference and the issues identified as important for their implementation were important.
Mr. Sadegh noted that the tripartite meeting particularly emphasized and adopted the agenda of creating a roadmap to achieve the goal of transporting 15 million tons of cargo annually between the three countries. Of course, this goal is achievable and this roadmap will definitely solve all the problems that will arise in the future.
“We expect to see significant progress in the construction of this railway over the next three years,” she said.
The minister noted that another issue that received attention at the Baku meeting was the simplification of transit and cargo transport processes, given that the meeting was attended by customs officials from three countries.
“This issue also received special attention at the conference. Most of the traffic in this direction is not only related to infrastructure. It is very important to consider various simplifications in sea, land and rail transport. The most important thing is to apply simplifications in the field of freight transport and land transport,” she stressed.
The Iranian minister added that both trilateral and bilateral talks highlighted an increase in the number of trucks passing through all border crossing points between Iran and Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan and Russia.
“Another important topic of the Baku conference was the energy sector, the creation of a gas and electricity corridor. All three countries are interested in expanding cooperation in this field, taking practical steps and implementing the agreed agreements. We will soon see the positive results of these measures,” she concluded.
MNA/