President Rouhani is expected to arrive in Baku in the coming days for trilateral and bilateral talks with Ilham Aliyev and Russian counterparts Vladimir Putin on the issues of interest.

North-South transportation corridor

An ambitious project for creating the North-South transportation corridor has been in spotlight as a key topic in bilateral and trilateral talks over the past several years as the prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran in transportation sphere seems very promising.

Azerbaijan and Iran are participants of the large and perspective North-South transportation corridor, which is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. The project is notable for its benefits not only for development of the economies of two countries involved, but also for other countries, located along the railway route and the region as a whole.

While Iran and Azerbaijan have launched construction works aimed at connecting their railway systems as two major participants of the transportation corridor, the bilateral meeting between Rouhani and Aliyev is expected to give a further impulse in the project’s implementation.

Meanwhile, Iran`s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen told Trend that both sides have taken proper measures to fulfill their commitments regarding the transport cooperation.

“Massive construction works are underway to connect the railways of Iran and Azerbaijan in both countries and almost 60 percent of the project has already been completed,” Pak Ayeen said.

At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo via the North-South corridor per year and to increase the figure to over 10 million tons in the future. In addition to its international aspects, the corridor will have a significant role in reducing transportation costs as well as booming volume of trade turnover between Iran and Azerbaijan.

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