Russian Railways JSC plans to build and electrify the railway from Iran to Azerbaijan and further extend it to Russia, RIA Novosti reported Monday.
The chairman of the transport committee of Russia’s State Duma Evgeniy Moskvichev made the remarks while commenting on the issues discussed during the visit of the State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin to Iran on November 16-17.
“We have discussed the level of bilateral relations over the past three to five years and agreements on rail, aviation and maritime cooperation have been prepared, and I think that they will be signed by July 2015,” said Moskvichev.
He said that Iran and Russia have some minor disagreements when it comes to cooperation in transport industry.
He said that the “green card” system – similar to compulsory third party or CTP - for drivers has not yet been fully launched in Iran, adding that Iranian drivers can take CTP in Russia for a year, while the Russian drivers in Iran receive it for only 15 days.
“There is an understanding about this from the part of Iran’s roads ministry, and this issue is expected to be resolved soon,” said Moskvichev.
Moskvichev said that Iran has requested that its vessels be allowed to navigate across Russia’s rivers. “Iranians will need entry visas,” he explained, adding that the issue will be addressed soon as there is no problem in this regard.
Moskvichev said that the volume of transport between the two countries increased in 2013 by 39 percent compared to 2012.
He pointed to the high transport capacity in Russia’s federal republic of Dagestan, adding that nearly 3,000 jobs have been created in this area over the past two or three years.
Members of the Russian delegation visiting Iran included the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Aleksey Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Vladimir Pligin, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy Ivan Grachev, and the chairman of the State Duma on Transport Evgeniy Moskvichev.
