Economy, Domestic Economy
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Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, India to Discuss Customs Coordination

Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, India  to Discuss Customs Coordination
Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, India  to Discuss Customs Coordination

The heads of the customs services of Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran and India will discuss the coordination of customs conditions as part of the North-South corridor project in the near future, Indian Ambassador to Russia Srinivasan Raghavan said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

He said that India must look for shorter routes for supplying its products, especially agricultural products, Trend News Agency reported.

“Here we can mention the importance of the North-South project,” the ambassador said. “We are actively working on the launch of this project because this will reduce the costs twofold. At present, many details must be coordinated. But we are proceeding very quickly.”

He said that the head of the Russian Federal Customs Service Andrey Beliyaninov plans to meet with colleagues from India, Iran and Azerbaijan in the near future to discuss the coordination of the customs conditions as part of this project.

“A meeting will be held in New Delhi on August 19-21,” Raghavan said. “Eight countries, participating in the project, rather than four countries, will take part in the project implementation. These consultations will have to speed up the work. We want it to be launched in early 2016.”

One purpose of creating the North-South international transport corridor is to integrate the highways of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran.

The 375-kilometers long Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is currently the missing link in the North-South transport corridor and it will connect the Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will link the railroads of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

Investments made in the construction of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) corridor section are estimated at $ 400 million.

Construction of the Qazvin-Rasht railway with the length of 205 kilometers has already been completed. Its capacity will be equal to 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million metric tons of cargo per year, according to preliminary estimates. As many as 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be built on the railway. The construction of 15 tunnels is completed.

At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo via the North-South corridor per year and increase this figure to 15-20 million tons.

Financialtribune.com