Azerbaijan is to accelerate the construction of the section of the international North-South transport corridor. The corresponding decree was signed by President Ilham Aliyev. "The wide potential of trade relations between the constituent states of the International North-South transport corridor (Russia, Iran and India) makes it necessary to use the favorable transit opportunities of Azerbaijan as a member of the corridor, as well as carrying out urgent work to coordinate the railway networks of Azerbaijan and Iran,’’ the text of the order informs.
In an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, political scientist Rovshan Ibrahimov said that this is a promising project because it brings the countries of Southeast Asia together, especially India with European ports. ‘‘According to an approbation, the transport corridor may be advantageous to traditional ways of transporting goods through the sea route and the Suez channel, both in time and in terms of price," he said.
According to the expert, it is necessary to build a road bed in Astara so that Azerbaijan could be actively involved in this project. It will be about 8.4 km long and a railway bridge over the River Arak.
"A trilateral meeting among Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran took place during the year in order to consider the possibility of starting the construction. Russia and Azerbaijan are connected by a railway, so the main thing they need to do is build the Rasht-Qazvin-Astara railway. Iran has already started to build one part of the route. It is need to bring the railway to Astara now. It is about 150 km. I think that when the construction is completed there will be quite a good transport corridor for the transport of goods in both directions,’’ the analyst said.
The director of the Center for Regional Studies of situational monitoring of RANHiGS, Alexander Savchenko, drew attention to the fact that this project will give Russia a number of advantages. "First, we can expect an increase in transit. And secondly, the corridor will improve our own transport network, which is in need of being modernized. These benefits are obvious," he said.
The expert also noted whether the project brought revenues to the Russian budget. "Now Russian Railways is carrying out a lot of work on modeling economic effects on the development of rail transport. As in any infrastructure project, it is difficult to speak about the direct economic effects. They also appear in other sectors. The Russian Railways is a strategically important issue. The results depend on the method of calculation. The strategy of development of rail transport is perceived in a different way,’’ Alexander Savchenko summed up.
A researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Stanislav Pritchin, said that the project fits into the strategy of Iran to expand economic ties with its neighbors. "Iran has been under sanctions for a long time, which is why it could not implement cooperation, including with its northern neighbors. Hassan Rouhani’s accession to power and the beginning of the process for the lifting of sanctions outlined the Caucasus, Central Asia and Russia as one of the main priorities of Iranian foreign policy on the way out of the economic blockade,’’ the expert said.
