Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran and Bulgaria plan to open a new transit corridor connecting the Islamic Republic to Europe, the Iranian transportation minister, Abbas Akhoundi said, ISNA news agency reported March 7.
Saying that currently the sole transit corridor connecting Iran and Bulgaria runs through Turkey, Akhoundi added Tehran and Sofia are studying a plan to open a new corridor through the Caucasus.
"We plan to lay the ground for connecting Iran and Bulgaria through railway," Akhoundi said at a meeting of a joint commission of Iran and Bulgaria, discussing expansion of bilateral cooperation in Tehran.
Mentioning that Iran is a main route connecting Bulgaria to India and the Persian Gulf, he added the countries can expand bilateral cooperation considering a combination of maritime, railway and road transit system.
Estimating the trade turnover between Iran and Bulgaria at about $150 million, the minister called for boosting the trade between the two countries.
Both Iran and Bulgaria are members of the Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia (TRACECA), which is an international transportation cooperation program between the EU and partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia.
TRACECA has a permanent secretariat in Baku. Its members are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Iran.
