The meeting was dedicated to the newly-launched ‘South-West Transport Corridor’, which links into the broader Trans-Caspian International Route project launched in 2016.
The event concluded with the signing of a new joint protocol that envisages expanding cooperation opportunities along the so-called ‘South-West’ route (Iran–Azerbaijan–Georgia–by ferry across the Black Sea–Ukraine–Poland) in order to optimize cargo transportation and increase transit capacity.
The sides reached agreements on a number of issues including approval of regulations of the Working Group on development of the South-West international transport route, determination of container transportation tariffs for 2018, reviewing the issue of setting competitive rates for carriage of goods by wagon as well as creating a website for information support of the Corridor.
It should be noted that Iran and Azerbaijan are scheduled to examine the tariffs for rail transportation between the two countries in order to set up Astara station in Iran before the end of 2017.
As part of the already-launched Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TCITR), the South-West corridor will also involve such countries and regions as India, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf. The total length of the South-West corridor will be 7,654 kilometers. According to estimates, cargo delivery via the new railway will take 15 days.
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