Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran agree on achieving goal of 30-mln-tonne cargo traffic through North-South transport corridor by 2030

BAKU. Sept 9 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran have signed a declaration at the end of the first trilateral meeting on the development of the North-South international transport corridor in Baku on Friday.

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.

They declared the readiness for cooperation to fully unlock the transport potential of the corridor and thus achieve the goal of 30 million tonnes of cargo to be annually transported via the three states by 2030.

There is also an agreement to set up a joint working group to facilitate transit procedures. The group will hold its inaugural meeting within a month.