Russia and Iran will discuss the creation of a transport and logistics hub in the port area of Bandar Abbas during a trilateral meeting in Baku dedicated to the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak said on Friday.
"Among the main tasks within the activities of the working group, we propose to consider <...> processing and coordination between the parties to the terms of the project for the creation of a transport and logistics hub in the port zone of Bandar Abbas (Iran)," he said.
Novak added that it is planned to discuss the development of logistics centers and services for transshipment of Russian cargoes in the ports of Enzeli and Bandar Abbas, as well as the use of a terminal in Bandar Abbas for transshipment of cargoes bound for the Persian Gulf countries and from these countries to South Asia.
Bandar Abbas is Iran's largest port, located in the south of the country on the Persian Gulf coast in close proximity to the Strait of Hormuz. It is of strategic commercial importance and is the central point of trade routes in the south of the Islamic republic.
The intergovernmental agreement on establishment of the North-South multimodal transport corridor was signed by Russia, India and Iran in 2000. Later the number of participants expanded to 14. The aim of the project is to attract transit cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf through Russian territory to Europe (compared with the sea route through the Suez Canal the distance is reduced by more than half, which reduces the time and cost of transportation). Now the project combines several different transport systems of individual states. India has invested about $2.1 billion in it, part of it in the construction of transport infrastructure in Iran.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS