Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Financing of a project on construction of the Astara-Rasht railway on Iran’s territory within the North-South Transportation Corridor project have become a key topic of the Iran-Azerbaijan talks.

The issue was mulled in Baku on July 27 as Azerbaijan Railways Head Javid Gurbanov received Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan, Spokesperson for Azerbaijan Railways Nadir Azmammadov told Trend.

During the meeting, Gurbanov highlighted that the North-South Corridor will play an important role in increasing the transportation potential of the project’s participants and will make it possible to expand the ties between Azerbaijan and Iran.

Fakhrieh-Kashan also agreed that the North-South project will give a special impetus to the expansion of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran.

The parties also discussed the schedule of the Astara-Rasht railway construction.

On July 26, Fakhrieh-Kashan and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Economy Minister Sahil Babayev have attended a session of the transport working group of the two countries held in Baku.

Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan, addressing the event, said Iran and Azerbaijan will jointly invest in the project and the Azerbaijani government has decided to invest $500 million.

The sides have prepared the draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for joint investment in the mentioned railroad project and it is expected to be inked during Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s upcoming visit to Baku on August 8.

Fakhrieh-Kashan forecasted that the construction of the project will be launched within the next couple of months after finalizing legal procedures.

The Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran) – Astara (Azerbaijan) railway is a part of the North-South transportation corridor which is meant to connect northern Europe with south-eastern Asia. It will serve as a link for connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo via the North-South corridor per year and to increase this figure to over 10 million tons in the future.

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