BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. The volume of Iran’s imports from Azerbaijan via the Astara railway terminal in the northern province of Gilan grew by 63 percent, during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21 through December 21, 2023), compared to the same period last year, Director General of Iran's Northern Railway Department Gholam Hossein Valadi said, Trend reports.
According to Valadi, Iran imported 152,000 tons of goods from Azerbaijan through the Astara railway terminal in 9 months.
Meanwhile, in the same period last year, the import was around 93,200 tons, the director general added.
He also said that the imported goods were mainly wood and wood materials, corn, lentils, etc.
The Astara railway terminal is located in Iran’s Astara city on an area of 35 hectares, 1.4 km from the Azerbaijan-Iran border.
According to the intergovernmental agreement between Azerbaijan and Iran, the construction of the terminal began in 2017. The Astara railway terminal, built by Azerbaijan Railways, has been leased to Azerbaijan for 25 years.
Despite the ongoing construction of the Astara terminal, several parts of the terminal have already been ready for operation, and since the beginning of 2018, transshipment operations have been carried out there.
Overall, Iran imported 28.7 million tons of goods worth $48.3 billion in the first 9 months of the current Iranian year (March 21 through December 21, 2023).
This is an increase of 12.3 percent in value and 7 percent in volume compared to the same period last year.
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