Tehran, Iran, December 25
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have reached agreements to launch a transit line that will transfer three million tons of goods per year, Ministry of Roads and Transportation of Iran told Trend Dec.25.
Iran Railways as well as Iranian Navigation and Ports Organization are involved in building the transit line, according to a brief of the meeting December 25 held earlier in Tehran.
The agreement was reached during a session with representatives of the three countries held December 22.
During the session, Mohsen Pour Seyyed Aghaei, deputy minister of transport and head of Iran's railways, said that the agreement seeks to launch a new corridor that connects Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas via the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea and Black sea.
He added that the representatives had signed four quadrilateral and two bilateral agreements the same day.
Aghaei said that the member states are set to form a joint committee to investigate the conditions of load transfer, tariffs, and timing of transport at the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Bandar Abbas.
An expert meeting between the three counties will convene on January 10 and January 11, followed by a meeting with the heads of railways and ports of the countries January 12 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Also, the sides agreed to prepare their shares of the project fund prior to January 10.
The Iranian railways will be responsible for providing a normal-width bogie railway while the Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts will be responsible for launching a wide-bogie railway for wagons to travel to Port Amirabad.
The official noted that the transit line will be able to let through 10 million tons of goods in a year in the long run.