BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 22. The opening of the Zangezur corridor can either reduce or increase freight transportation costs, the Secretary General of the Azerbaijan International Road Transport Association (ABADA) Kanan Gurbanov told reporters, Trend reports.
The secretary general of ABADA also spoke about the prospects of the Zangezur corridor.
"The Zangezur corridor is globally important issue. We are all looking forward to its opening. Currently, our shipments are transported to Europe either through Georgia or Iran. This, in turn, increases both time and costs. However, when the Zangezur corridor opens, the route will be shorter and Azerbaijan will carry out transportation through its own territory.
In general, the opening of the Zangezur corridor can reduce freight transportation costs and increase the attractiveness of this corridor.
As ABADA, our goal is to exceed 100 large companies with Carnet booklets by the end of the year.
He said that 85 companies are already members of this booklet.
"Our goal is to attract all our carriers to the Carnet booklet. Attracting them to this booklet means increasing their quality.
Also, expanding the geography of carrier member companies is one of our main goals. This expansion has extended to China. Our current goal is to increase the geography of cargo transportation deep into Europe," he explained.
Gurbanov noted that carriers are experiencing difficulties in entering the depths of Iran.
"This is because there are many fines and artificial obstacles there. Our goal is to expand the geography of cargo transportation there as well," he added.
The Zangezur corridor initiative put forth by Azerbaijan seeks to create a strategic transit conduit connecting its principal territory with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, traversing Armenian territory.
This project emerged in the course of the implementation of the agreements set out in the trilateral statement signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia in 2020.
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