Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Iran plans to increase the volume of rail freight with Uzbekistan, including through its oil products, Uzbek media reports.

Representatives of Uzbekistan Temir Yollari and the delegation of the Iranian railway sector held negotiations on this issue.

As Uzbek railway company noted, the parties discussed a wide range of issues relating to the state and prospects of cooperation between the two countries, as well as the development of mutually beneficial relations.

"In particular, they discussed the creation of favorable conditions for the transit of goods, examined the possibilities of new directions, including the implementation of import and export of container wagons", added in the Uzbek railway company.

The focus was on proposals for the import of petroleum products from Iran to the country and on the supply of sulfur produced in Uzbekistan to Iran.

"Uzbekistan is a strategically significant and shortest transit region connecting East Asia, in particular, with China. Therefore, further development of the reliable partnership, an increase in rail traffic between the two countries is a requirement of time. We plan to increase the number of container traffic in this direction. This year, 50,000 tons of cargo are planned to be imported from China. We already held negotiations with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on this issue," said the head of the Iranian delegation, Ahmadij Babak.

As noted at the meeting, the demand for cotton and Uzbek-made textile products has also increased significantly in Iran recently.

After the U.S. withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Iran (IFAP), Washington decided to return the previous anti-Iran sanctions and introduce new ones. The U.S. in November 2018 announced plans to bring the export of Iranian oil to zero, but then made a temporary exception for at least 8 countries, allowing them to continue to buy Iranian oil.

Diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Iran were established on May 10, 1992.

In January-September 2018, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Iran reached $228.5 million, of which $135.8 million accounted for exports from Uzbekistan, $92.7 million for imports from Iran.

Uzbekistan exports to Iran cotton, non-ferrous metals, metallurgy products, petroleum and petroleum products, automobiles and vehicles, electronics, as well as products of the chemical industry, etc.

Iran, in turn, exports to Uzbekistan agricultural products, vegetable and animal fats, foodstuffs, textile and shoe products, chemical products, coffee, tea, pharmaceuticals, etc.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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