Copy in clipboard...
Russia’s Putin discusses Rasht-Astara railway on Baku visit
Putin focused the talks on the establishment of the railway project in the west of the corridor which aims to transport 15 million metric tons of goods, Igor Levitin said in a meeting held in Moscow with Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali, Mehr News Agency reported on Tuesday.
In the meeting, Levitin expressed his readiness to travel to Tehran to hold talks with new cabinet members and follow up on the joint economic projects.
Speaking for his part, Jalali said that in 2023, some 650,000 metric tons of commodities were transported from the eastern part of the INSTC for the first time, adding that transportation of goods from the Caspian Sea on the corridor route raised to 10 million metric tons in 2023 while it was six million metric tons in 2022.
The western part of the INSTC which passes through Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran could transport over three million metric tons of goods in 2023, while the maximum amount of exchange has been 1.5 to 2 million metric tons in the previous years, according to Jalali.
He further said the Iranian officials make efforts to enhance all-out ties with Russia, and this enhancement will be accelerated during the tenure of the new Iranian administration.
The INSTC connects northern Europe with the countries of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean via Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
The agreement to establish this multimodal corridor was signed in 2000 between Russia, Iran, and India. Today, 12 countries are participants in the INSTC. The corridor includes three routes: the western route along the western shore of the Caspian Sea, the eastern route along the eastern shore through Kazakhstan, and the trans-Caspian route across the Caspian Sea.