North-South transport corridor to boost countries' ties

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijani Railways CJSC Chairman Javid Gurbanov has said that the North-South International Transport Corridor will play an important role in the development of participating and other countries.

He made the remarks at the Baku-hosted 6th meeting of the working group on the development of the western route of the North-South International Transport Corridor.

“The corridor will play an important role in the development of other countries, which will increase trade turnover by carrying out export-import operations through this route, and expand economic and trade ties,” he said.

During the meeting, he spoke about the importance of the corridor and the work done in this direction.

Gurbanov noted that the liberation of Azerbaijan’s lands opened wide opportunities for a successful promotion of transport corridors through the country. He also spoke about the initiative and active role of the country in the development of international routes important for expanding economic ties.

The parties discussed the results of the project, the current volume of traffic, and prospects for attracting container cargo from India to Azerbaijan, Russia, Belarus and the European Union, as well as issues related to the return of containers from EU countries.

The main issues on the agenda of the meeting were the creation of attractive tariff conditions by the participants of the corridor, the simplification of customs procedures, the use of electronic information exchange in the organization of container trains along the western route of the North-South International Transport Corridor. In addition, the agenda included issues on the development of infrastructure in the national parts of the corridor, and an increase in the cargo capacity of the terminal in Astara (Iran), construction of the Astara-Rasht, and Zahedan-Chabahar railway lines, as well as other issues.

During the meeting, bilateral meetings were held between representatives of Azerbaijan Railways and representatives of the railways of Iran, Russia, Belarus, and Finland, and a number of issues on mutual relations were discussed.

A relevant protocol was signed at the end of the meeting.

The North-South International Transport Corridor Agreement between Russia, Iran, and India was signed on September 12, 2000, in St. Petersburg and entered into force on May 21, 2002. Azerbaijan joined the North-South International Transport Corridor in 2005.