Iran Press/ Asia: The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is considered one of the essential transit routes connecting western and southern Asia regions. The INSTC was set up by three states of Russia, India, and Iran in September 2000 to promote transportation cooperation.
Upon his arrival to Baku, Rostam Ghasemi, Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran, said: Iran has a railway from Shahid Rajaei port, the southernmost point of the country, to Rasht in the north of the country, and now there are 162 kilometers of the railway from Rasht to Astara left, the completion and construction of which is one of the most critical issues in a 3-way meeting.
The signatories are Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev, his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak, and Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi, an Interfax correspondent, said in a report.
The sides said they would draft an agreement on building the Rasht-Astara rail line in the Iranian territory within a month and would start to discuss project details by the end of this year.
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They also declared the readiness for cooperation to unlock the transport potential of the corridor fully and thus achieve the goal of 30 million tons of cargo to be annually transported via the three states by 2030.
There is also an agreement to establish a joint working group to facilitate transit procedures. The group will hold its inaugural meeting within a month.
The purpose of creating a corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo from India to Russia, as well as to northern and western Europe. The delivery time on the current route is more than six weeks, it is expected to be reduced to 3 weeks via North-South Transport Corridor.
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