Eurasian Agroexpress Project to Include Iran

The Eurasian Agroexpress project will include shipping operations to Iran as well as Turkmenistan, the UAE and India, BelTA learned from the Eurasian Economic Union following a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty, Kazakhstan on February 2-3, which was attended by Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, BelTA has learned.
"The heads of government of the EAEU member states supported the proposal by the Eurasian Economic Commission to expand the Eurasian Agroexpress integration project to include shipping operations carried out along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) towards Turkmenistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of India. The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council issued an appropriate resolution at the meeting in Almaty on 2-3 February," the EEC said.
"In connection with the redirection of a number of transport routes, the demand for the North-South corridor has increased significantly. Trial shipments to Iran and India were made within the framework of the project and confirmed the attractiveness of the route. Our countries have a great potential for expanding their transit and export capabilities," said Andrei Slepnev, Member of the Board (Minister) for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
In its first year of operation the Eurasian Agroexpress beat the planned indicators. In 2022, it transported 525,500 tonnes, including 282,900 tonnes of refrigerated cargo. The transported commodities included poultry and beef, milk powder, oil and fats, fruits and vegetables, and leguminous products. “Despite the pandemic-related restrictions in China, multimodal transportation to that country was very active,” Andrei Slepnev noted.
In his words, a number of aspects were identified that hinder the effective work of the project. In particular, there are issues with obtaining permits to import frozen products to China via overland rail routes through Dostyk-Alashankou and Altynkol-Khorgos border crossings. Their solution could provide a significant advantage in terms of cost and delivery time compared with multimodal transportation through the ports of the Far East.
“In this regard, the EEC has been instructed to work with the authorized bodies of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union to reach agreements with China to eliminate restrictive measures and optimize customs and other administrative procedures,” the EEC said.
The initiative to implement Eurasian Agroexpress, a joint project of the Eurasian Economic Union member states on the high-speed container rail and multimodal transportation of agricultural products, was supported by the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in 2022. The project prioritizes regular accelerated shipments of agricultural products and food made by the member states both within the EAEU markets and the markets of third countries.