New multimodal route with participation of Azerbaijan and Latvia to be created

By Trend

The multimodal route India-Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia-Latvia will be created in order to ensure regular container communication between the countries, the Ministry of Transport of Latvia told Trend.

This route will operate within the framework of the North-South project.

"The international transport corridor "North-South" is included in the list of priorities of the Latvian logistics industry represented by the "Latvian railway" JSC state company. A multimodal route India-Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia-Latvia is being created in order to ensure regular container traffic. It is envisaged that the proposed logistics solution will ensure an efficient, reliable and fast flow of goods from India to Europe. The access to the region of the Baltic countries and northern Europe, as well as to eastern and western Europe will be gained with the use of the advantages and logistics services of Latvia in the direction of the international transport corridor "North – South", the ministry noted.

Latvia sees Azerbaijan as a very important partner in the development of new transport routes in the Eurasian space, the ministry noted.

"Two very important international transport corridors pass through Azerbaijan - the international North-South corridor connecting India, Iran, Azerbaijan, North-West Russia and the Baltic sea region, as well as the transport corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia – TRACECA, which is a part of the new Silk Road and creates a strategic link between the Caspian and the Black seas. In this regard, we believe that Azerbaijan has excellent prospects for the development of freight transport. The development of railway communication with Iran will strengthen the North-South corridor, and the recently opened Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line will develop freight traffic in the East-West direction," the ministry said.

The ministry noted that, the "One Belt, One Road" initiative of China can create new opportunities for the development of logistics supply chains, in particular between Azerbaijan and Latvia.

"Latvia can offer Azerbaijan the opportunity to supplement its logistics routes in North-South and East-West directions with access to the market of northern and western Europe through our railway and ports – Riga, Ventspils, Liepaja," the ministry noted.