A few days after the visit of an expert delegation from the Russian Railway to Iran to discuss the details of the construction of the Rasht-Astara Railroad project with the deputy minister and the CEO of Iran's Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC), today Iran deputy minister, Shahriyar Afandizadeh, met with Dmitry Stanislavovich Zverev, the State Secretary and deputy minister of transport of the Russian Federation, and his delegation including Igor Yevgenyevich Levitin, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, and Russian Ambassador to Iran, Levan Dzhagaryan.
In the meeting, the two sides followed up on previous agreements on four main agendas including the Rasht-Astara Railroad project, the electrification of the Garmsar-Incheh Borun Railroad, the trilateral agreement with Azerbaijan, and the facilitation of transit.
The Rasht-Astara Railroad project is very strategic for Iran and regional countries as it is the missing route along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) connecting northern Europe to the Indian Subcontinent.
Similarly, the electrification of the 460-km Garmsar-Incheh Borun Railroad is supposedly to be implemented by loan on the part of Russia and would expedite transport in this section.
Moreover, a trilateral agreement between Iran, Russia, and Azerbaijan is expected to be reached in September in Baku.
All the above-mentioned projects will boost bilateral freight transit by up to 10 million tons, decrease the time and costs of transit, and complete transit along the strategic International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
Iran and Russia's transport roadmap includes multimodal transport and multilateral cooperation in the region.
MNA