Tehran, Yerevan agree on transport links, set $3b trade target
Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadeq Malvajerd (L) and Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khudatyan, sign an MoU in Yerevan, witnessed by President Masoud Pezeshkian and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, on August 19, 2025. president.ir
Iran and Armenia agreed on Tuesday to expand transit corridors and upgrade transport infrastructure while setting a $3 billion target for bilateral trade, signaling a stronger partnership in regional connectivity and economic cooperation.
Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development and Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, in a joint meeting, emphasized the development of transport infrastructure, strengthening transport and infrastructure cooperation, and resolving transit-related disputes.
During her official visit to Armenia, Farzaneh Sadeq Malvajerd, in talks with Davit Khudatyan, highlighted the importance of transit corridors such as North–South and the Persian Gulf–Black Sea, calling for the enhancement of road, rail, and logistics infrastructure in Armenia to facilitate regional goods transfer, ILNA reported.
The Iranian minister also invited her Armenian counterpart to visit Iran at the earliest opportunity to review the country’s transport and logistics capacities.
Sadeq Malvajerd pointed to a roughly $330 imbalance in transit tolls between the two countries and called for a revision of the practice.
Jolfa-Yerevan-Georgia railway
Stressing the need to preserve the territorial integrity of states, the Iranian minister underlined that the creation of new transport routes must avoid geopolitical alterations. She described the reopening of the Jolfa–Yerevan–Georgia railway as a crucial step toward facilitating regional transit.
Khudatyan, for his part, expressed full satisfaction with the quality and speed of the North–South corridor project carried out by an Iranian company, stating that Yerevan preferred to assign subsequent phases of the project to the same contractors.
Air transport, Trade growth
In the field of air transport, the two sides also noted the operation of 20 weekly flights between the two countries and underscored the need to increase flights and sign an aircraft leasing agreement to expand cooperation.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, Mohammad Atabak, met with Armenia’s Minister of Economy in Yerevan. In the meeting, Atabak underscored the need to expand economic and trade cooperation and stressed raising trade volume to $3 billion.
A joint working group composed of deputies from both sides was proposed by Atabak and Gevorg Papoyan to accelerate agreements and facilitate exchanges in order to achieve the $3 billion trade target in the fields of industry and commerce.