Commentary:

Commentary (IP) - After the return of relative calm to the Central Asian republics due to the concerns of their leaders about the transfer of insecurity in Afghanistan, these countries are seeking to expand trade with countries in the region and the world.

Iran PressCommentary: The five Central Asian republics are landlocked and do not have access to the international high waters but Iran provides the safest and most economical transit route for these countries to connect to the warm waters of the Persian Gulf, Sea of ​​Oman, and the Indian Ocean.

Central Asian countries want to expand transit cooperation with Iran

Some Central Asian republics have already signed cooperation agreements with Iran in this regard. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are two Central Asian countries that have expressed interest in cooperating with Iran in the fields of railways and rail links. Uzbek leaders have also signed an agreement with Iran and Turkmenistan to have access to the high seas.

At the same time, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have signed memoranda of understanding on transit cooperation with Iran and have stated that they intend to export and import their goods through Iran's road and rail transit routes.

In this regard, the Presidents of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan also agreed to expand transit cooperation through Iran.

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The Presidents of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, stressed at a news conference in Ashgabat that transit cooperation between the two countries, especially on the Kazakh-Turkmen-Iranian railway, should be implemented.

Berdimuhamedow and Tokayev also called for the use of existing export capacities to export and import goods through this rail transit route. Due to the importance of this transit route, the Presidents of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan also instructed the governments of Ashgabat and Nur-Sultan to provide more effective economic cooperation in this transit route by signing new agreements with Iran.

It is obvious that the Central Asian Republics' use of Iran's transit routes is one of the best routes for these countries. In the current situation, other communication routes of the Central Asian republics are uneconomical and insecure. For this reason, establishing relations with different countries of the world using the Iranian transit route is of great importance for the Central Asian republics.

In addition to the signing of several transit cooperation agreements between the Central Asian republics and Iran, the Central Asian republics are part of the North-South communication route.

The first North-South cooperation document between Iran, Russia, and India was signed in 2000. However, due to its cultural, religious, and historical commonalities with the nations of Central Asia, Iran has signed agreements with the Central Asian republics in the past few years to establish East-West routes.

In fact, with the signing of these documents, the Central Asian republics have also joined the North-South international communication route and can take advantage of this communication route. Due to the importance of this communication route, in addition to the countries of the region, many countries outside the region have also requested cooperation with the countries of this communication route.

Shohreh Pulab, a Tajik expert on transport, said, "The link between South Asia with the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, and Europe through this corridor is the goal of all countries along the way, especially India, which can lead to a geopolitical change in Eurasia by creating economic opportunities and geoeconomic dynamism."

Iran ready to improve transit relations with Central Asian republics

In recent years, while anticipating such days, Iranian officials have constructed and are ready to operate several development projects in the field of road construction and road and rail communications for the use of the Central Asian republics.

This will effectively help the Central Asian republics to trade with the countries of the region and the world in smooth conditions.

In a nutshell, the transit sector has been one of the key areas of Iran-Uzbekistan cooperation in recent years. The two countries are members of the Ashgabat Transit Agreement, which connects Central Asia to the waters of the Persian Gulf and Oman via Iran.

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Written by: Mohammad-Ali Talebi

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