TABNAK, Dec 23: He made the remarks in a meeting with a Russian delegation, headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Transport Vitaly Gennadyevich Savelyev, in Tehran on Monday.
Iranian President highlighted building Rasht-Astara railway section under the North-South international transport corridor project as Iran’s priorities.
“Iran is committed to the provisions of this agreement and the Russian side can begin mapping the route and prepare the implementation of the project as soon as possible,” the Iranian president said.
The 162-kilometer Rasht-Astara railway is a strategic transport corridor that will connect the Iranian city of Rasht, near the Caspian Sea, to Astara on the border with Azerbaijan.
The project, which is aimed at integrating the transport and information routes of Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and India, is carried out within the framework of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
Savelyev, for his part, said Russia is resolute on implementing the Rasht-Astara railway and has granted the necessary credit line.
Russia is cooperating with Azerbaijan to complete the North-South Corridor and calls on Iran to implement it, he added.
He noted that Russia and Azerbaijan have agreed to modernize the part of this railway located on their territory and also ask Iran to help make the necessary arrangements to update and renovate the project inside the country.
The Russian official hailed his country’s growing cooperation with Iran in the transport section.
It is expected that the two countries would transfer 15 million tonnes of goods with the implementation of the Rasht-Astara railway, he noted.
