Russian presidential aide, Azerbaijani deputy PM due in Iran to open key rail link
A special aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani’s deputy prime minister will be in northern Iran on June 20 to attend a railway inauguration ceremony that will enable rail freight transport from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
Local media reports on Wednesday indicated that Iran’s caretaker president Mohammad Mokhber will inaugurate the Rasht-Caspian Port railway project a day later in a ceremony attended by foreign officials and ambassadors.
The 37-kilometer railway is located in Iran’s Gilan Province and connects the provincial capital of Rasht to the Anzali Free Trade and Industry Zone on the Caspian Sea shore.
The railway will allow direct freight transport from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf via the Iranian railway network.
It will significantly boost trade via Iran between countries in the Caucasus region, the Caspian Sea states and central Asian nations with those in the Persian Gulf and in the Indian Ocean region.
The official IRNA news agency said that considering the inflation in recent years, the project is worth some 60 trillion rials (over $100 million), more than double the amount the Iranian government has spent on it.
Iran’s transport minister Mehrdad Bazrpash described the opening of the railway as a historic development for the country which will significantly boost its cargo transit capacities.
Iran has expanded its transport network in recent years with an eye on increased transit revenues from regional and international trade corridors.
Transit via Iran rose by 78% year on year in the two months to late May to reach 2.9 million metric tons (mt), according to government figures.
Total cargo transited via Iran in the calendar year to late March reached 14.75 million mt, up by 58% compared to the previous year.
Experts say Iran could earn up to $5 billion per year from 25 million mt of cargo transit on its section of the International North–South Transport Corridor if it completes the construction of all missing links on the corridor.
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