From the very first day, Azerbaijan has been one of the most active parties in the process of coordinating and developing the North-South route.
elchi reports that Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said this at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
The minister stated that strengthening transport and logistics connections between regional countries is of great importance: “The North-South project, where our two large neighbors are connected through the territory of Azerbaijan, is one of the important and priority directions for our country.
In this context, specific issues regarding the Azerbaijani section were agreed upon on a bilateral basis with the Russian Federation a few years ago. I can say that those agreements are being implemented on time and according to the plan. At the current stage, it is planned to increase the volume of cargo transported by rail along the Azerbaijani direction of the North-South route to 5 million tons by 2028. There are no problems in this direction.”
According to him, this is a project implemented in stages: “After the work carried out in the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as in the Islamic Republic of Iran, is completed, Azerbaijan is ready to further increase the transport opportunities passing through its territory if the need arises. The railway terminal located in the city of Astara, Iran, and built at the expense of Azerbaijani investments, is also of great importance within the framework of the route. Currently, the construction of that terminal has effectively been completed. Officially, the readiness level of the facility is estimated at 98 percent. However, in reality, the construction work is almost completely finished, and only the final handover procedures with the Iranian side remain to be carried out.”