Russia ready to cooperate with Baku, Tehran on North-South transport corridor - Deputy PM Novak

BAKU. Sept 9 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to cooperate with Baku and Tehran in the development of the North-South international transport corridor, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

"We have started working today on the orders from the presidents of our countries. I have no doubt that our talks will be productive, considering that the development of the international transport corridor is an extremely important area of our trilateral cooperation for Azerbaijan, for Russia and for Iran. The relevance of the North-South international transport corridor is highlighted in the agreement on the allied relations between Azerbaijan and Russia," Novak said at the first trilateral meeting on the development of the North-South international transport corridor in Baku on Friday.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Sixth Caspian Summit in Ashgabat that Azerbaijan was interested in the corridor's development and the restart of the Rasht - Astara rail line project in the Iranian territory, Novak said.

"For his part, Putin expressed the readiness to discuss the project funding. The two heads of state reaffirmed the interest in further development of the North-South corridor and decided to set up a respective working group during a Russian delegation's visit to Tehran on July 19," he said.

Russia is ready for fruitful cooperation in the trilateral format, Novak said. "That will allow seamless cargo transportation from Russia to Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf. I have no doubt that the full unlocking of the transport and logistic potential will have an effect on our trade turnover, the volume of cargo, and economic activities of the parties. For now, the corridor features transport systems, which differ from one another by certain parameters, such as customs systems and railroad infrastructure, including different track widths. We propose that the following issues be addressed: the Rasht - Astara line be constructed to create a common railroad network in the western sector of the international transport corridor," he said.

In the opinion of specialists, the construction of a rail line in this sector will increase cargo transportation through the western corridor to 15 million tonnes in the near future, Novak said. "First of all, that would require the settlement of such issues as land titles and the protection of investments to be made by the sides. Secondly, it would be necessary to designate and establish interaction between responsible entities with relevant competences and administrative resources for comprehensively addressing these issues. Thirdly, it would be necessary to create an end-to-end logistics service for the international transport corridor and a mechanism for coordinating cargo transportation tariffs throughout the route, in addition to the provision of a full package of multimodal logistic services. Fourthly, logistic centers and services should be developed for the transshipment of Russian goods in the Anzali and Bandar Abbas ports, and a terminal in the Bandar Abbas port should be used to transship cargo destined for and from Persian Gulf and South Asian countries. Fifthly, a transport and logistic hub should open in the Bandar Abbas port zone," Novak said.