![]() ![]() The corridor had a “decisive role in changing the geometry of goods transiting in the region,” Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Igor Levitin, a Putin aide, during talks at the Kremlin in April 2023.ĭespite two decades of development, however, the project was still far from being fully operational and able to replace the existing international trade routes. In 2022, annual commercial traffic on all parts of the corridor carried 20,000 containers of oil, grain, lumber, and metals totaling more than eight million tons–up 65 percent from 2021, according to the Russian Ministry of Transport. “Income, derived from freight deliveries via the North-South Corridor, as well as the more intensive operation of our states’ ports, will help establish related businesses and facilitate their growth.” Putin predicted that the project would in turn create jobs and improve the investment climate in both Russia and Iran. The corridor “will help to significantly diversify global traffic flows, and provide “obvious economic benefits” for both countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Ebrahim Raisi in May 2023. The latest rail-and-road route–referred to as the Eastern branch–runs from northern Russia southeast through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Iran for shipment to India.The Western branch was not complete as of mid-2023. A rail-and-road land route–known as the Western branch–runs from northern Russia south through Azerbaijan into northern Iran and then to a southern port on the Persian Gulf for shipment again by sea.A land-and-sea route–known as the Trans-Caspian–runs from northern Russia across the Caspian Sea to southern Iran for shipment through the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Sea or the Indian Ocean.Since 2003, the following countries have joined as partners: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Oman, Syria, and Ukraine, with Bulgaria as an observer. The corridor mainly benefited Tehran, Moscow and New Delhi, but it had the potential to transform trade and commerce between Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia by tapping into existing routes to 11 other countries. It could eventually provide major commercial links between Asia and Europe. ![]() The goal of the joint project is to cut travel costs by up to a third and shipping time by nearly a half. Since 2002, Iran, Russia and India have worked intermittently on a new transportation system by rail, road and sea-running 4,500 miles through at least six Eurasian countries and benefitting seven others-that could be a game-changer for global trade. ![]()
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