Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash in the meeting with visiting Russian President’s Special Aide Igor Levitin in Tehran considered the transportation cooperation between the two countries to be beneficial for both sides.
'Although the history of maritime trade between Iran and Russia has a very long history, using the capacity of active ports of the two countries in the Caspian Sea can be considered in new cooperation', said the Iranian minister.
Bazrpash, pointing to the berthing of a large ro-ro Russian cargo ship, Kompozitor Gasanov, at Noshahr Port in northern Iran on May 2, 2022, after about 20 years, called these traffic a giant step for developing bilateral maritime trade.
Moreover, Iran and Russia's preliminary agreement in shipbuilding as part of the broader plan to expand economic relations on the sidelines of the 25th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 18 and entering the transit train of Russia along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to Iran from Sarakhs Border on October 2, all promises more effective transport cooperation, he added.
Referring to the necessity of developing aviation cooperation between the two countries, Bazarpash said: 'expanding transit capacity of maritime routes through the Caspian Sea corridors, including the east and west corridors of the Caspian Sea, can also be effective in reducing heavy land traffic in the Caucasus'.
With the completion of 35 kilometers of routes from Rasht to the Caspian Port, which is a seaport located in the Anzali Free Zone, the rail network will connect Anzali Port and the Caspian Port to the southern ports of Iran in the Persian Gulf, especially Bandar Abbas. It will be an important development in multimodal transport with Russian ports in the north of the Caspian Sea, Iran's minister of roads and urban development added.
In the meeting, Igor Levitin summarized the expert meetings and the visit of the Russian delegation to the Rasht-Astara Railway and called for the development of transport cooperation in all modes of transport.
Previously, the two sides met in January to discuss the completion of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
MNA/PR