BISHKEK (TCA) — Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan have vowed to work together to prepare the grounds for the construction of a North-South Transit Corridor (NSTC), which is expected to provide a faster trade connectivity between Europe and South East Asia and become a rival to the Suez Canal, Iran’s PressTV news agency reported.
The three countries announced the project in a joint statement at the end of a historic summit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on August 8.
The NSTC is a multi-modal route to link India and the Middle East to the Caucasus, Central Asia and Europe.
The ship, road and rail route connects India’s Mumbai to the Iranian port of Bander Abbas and further to Baku in Azerbaijan as well as Astrakhan, Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia before stretching to northern Europe and Scandinavia.
Besides Iran, India and Russia, countries that are on board to integrate into the transit network include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Turkey, Tajikistan, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria.
The NSTC was a central theme in the summit of Putin, Rouhani and Aliyev.
“Our talks will focus on a flagship project – the International North–South Transport Corridor with a total length of 7,200 kilometers,” Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying by the media before leaving for Baku.
“It aims to provide the best possible opportunities for transporting transit cargo from India, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states to Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and further to northern and western Europe,” he said.
According to the Russian Railways Logistics, the new route would eliminate the need to pass through the Suez Canal, which is not only overloaded but also very expensive.
The NSTC project also opens a window for alignment with the Silk Road Economic Belt, a brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping to establish new trade and transport links with Central Asia and Europe.
