Azerbaijan, Russia looking to activate ITC North-South

Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation have intensified work on the development of different segments of the North-South international transport corridor (ITC), First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Industrial Policy, Innovations, and Trade of St. Petersburg Alexander Sitov told media.

"Several areas of collaboration with Azerbaijan have been established in order to activate the ITC North-South. This corridor starts in the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg, and its branches end in Iran and can reach India. A portion of the route travels through Azerbaijan on land (roads and railroads) and along the Caspian Sea, and we agreed to develop cooperation zones," Sitov noted.

According to him, the Russian Federation is currently modernizing its Caspian port of Olya (year-round navigation) to increase cargo turnover along the North-South ITC.

Furthermore, it is planned to create a new cargo area of 250 hectares in the port of Olya: the 1st stage assumes the construction of six berths by 2027 for cargo turnover of up to 6 million tons; the 2nd stage is capacity development of up to 12 million tons; and the 3rd stage is capacity development of up to 50 million tons.

Also, the construction of highways, transport interchanges, bridges, and engineering structures will be intensified under the North-South project.

"I think Azerbaijan will be interested in new initiatives of the Russian Federation on the North-South ITC," Sitov emphasized.

To note, the decision to create this ITC was made in St. Petersburg in 2000, and the agreement on this corridor has been ratified by 14 countries in the world.

The railroad segment of the ITC is projected to establish the section Rasht (Iran)-Astara (the border between Iran and Azerbaijan), for which VTB Bank (Russia) loaned Iran more than 1 billion euros.