Tehran, Muscat discuss launching joint airline
Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash and Oman’s Minister of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology Saeed Bin Hamoud Al-Mawal held talks in Tehran to discuss broadening aviation ties including launching a joint airline.
They also weighed plans for cooperation in different modes of transportation including maritime, rail, road, and multimodal transport, ISNA reported.
During the meeting, the Iranian minister proposed that the two sides should reach a comprehensive transportation agreement.
The Omani minister, in turn, approved the idea of a ‘comprehensive maritime transport agreement’, which now needs to be ratified by the Iranian Parliament.
In the maritime sector, launching direct shipping lines between the ports of the two countries, particularly between Iran’s Bandar Abbas port and Oman’s Shinas port, was emphasized with the purpose of boosting commercial activities.
Moreover, the two sides welcomed joint investment in the ports, particularly in Iran’s Chabahar port and Oman’s Shinas port.
The Iranian roads minister also suggested that Oman should identify a site in Iran for investment in a dry port.
The two ministers also discussed plans to facilitate exports and imports with multimodal transit methods under the Ashgabat Agreement from Central Asia to Oman through Iran.
Signed in 2011, the Ashgabat Agreement is a multimodal transport deal among Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, India, Pakistan, and Oman with the purpose of creating an international transport and transit corridor that facilitates the transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. The agreement came into force in April 2016.