North-South corridor participants mull simplification of customs procedures

The 6th meeting of the working group on the development of the western route of the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) was held in Baku, Report informs referring to the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

As part of the meeting, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov met with the heads of the delegations on railway transport of the participating countries. He spoke about the importance of the INSTC and the work carried out in this direction.

He noted that the corridor will play an important role in the development and expansion of economic and trade ties not only among the project participants but also with other countries that are increasing trade turnover, carrying out export-import operations along this route.

The event was attended by Deputy General Director of JSC Russian Railways Vyacheslav Pavlovsky, First Deputy Head of the State Association Belarusian Railway Pyotr Dulub, Vice President of the Iranian Railways Morteza Jafari, Head of Russia Office of the Finnish railway concern (VR Group LTD) Vladislav Shepetovsky. Kalyana Rama, managing director and chairperson of the Container Corporation of India Ltd. (CONCOR), joined the online discussions.

The main issues on the agenda of the meeting were the creation of attractive tariff conditions by the participants of the corridor, the simplification of customs procedures, the introduction of electronic exchange of information when organizing container trains along the western route of the International North–South Transport Corridor, the development of infrastructure in the national parts of the corridor, an increase in the cargo capacity of the terminal in Astara (Iran), construction of the Astara-Rasht and Zahedan-Chabahar railway lines and others.

A protocol was signed following the meeting.

The foundation of the North-South transport corridor was laid on September 12, 2000, in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India. Azerbaijan joined this agreement in 2005. This agreement was ratified by 13 countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine).

The project is planned in the direction of Northern and Western Europe - the Russian Federation, then in three more directions: Caucasus - Persian Gulf (Western route); Central Asia - Persian Gulf (Eastern Route); Caspian Sea - Islamic Republic of Iran - Persian Gulf (Central Route).