Secretary-general of the International Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA), Mircea Ciopraga visited Iran’s southern port of Shahid Rajaie on Tuesday to survey ways to increase the organization’s cooperation with Iran through the so-called ‘Iranian capital of marine trade’, IRNA reported.
Shahid Rajaie, located in Hormozgan Province, is Iran’s biggest container port. More than 1,370 vessels berthed there during the first four months of the current Iranian year that started in March, indicating an 8% increase compared with last year’s corresponding period, according to the director general of Hormozgan Ports and Maritime Organization, Ebrahim Idani. Handling of close to 700,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) during the period indicates a 27% rise.
A total of 26.6 million tons of oil and non-oil products were handled at the port during the four-month period, registering a 32% increase, while more than 3 million tons of oil and 11.4 million tons of non-oil products were exported, showing a 62% and 70% rise respectively.
Earlier in the week, Ciopraga met with Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi, to discuss new opportunities in Iran following the lifting of economic sanctions.
Sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic were rolled back in mid-January as part of the landmark nuclear agreement the country signed with world powers last year to limit the scope of its nuclear program.
On Monday, the TRACECA chief held talks with the CEO of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, Mohsen Pour Seyyed Aqaei. He took stock of Iran’s under-construction transit corridors and stressed the need to eliminate red tape to reduce transit time between TRACECA member states.
Iran joined TRACECA in 2009. Other members are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan along with the European Union.
International Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia is a multi-modal transport program, which aims to develop economic and trade relations as well as transportation links between member countries.
It was established in 1993, upon the signing of a Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for the development of transport initiatives (including the establishment and development of a road corridor) between the EU, Caucasus and Central Asia.
