TEHRAN - Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Rostam Qasemi has met with Turkmenistan’s deputy chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, and discussed bilateral transport and transit.
Freight transit is among key planks of collaboration between Iran and Turkmenistan and Joint Economic Commission is considered as a good platform for building relations and advancing cooperation.
In rail transport, there is an agreement for the traffic of 400 freight wagons per day through Sarakhs Border which still can be further increased.
In this sense, the two sides discussed the removal of the barriers at Sarakhs Border for which a special task force is decided to be formed.
Transit is particularly important for Iran and Turkmenistan as the volume of trade between Russia in the North and India in the south are considerable. The rail route through Iran is very economical as it directly links the northern countries to the Indian Ocean through Chabahar Port. The route reduces total transit time from three months to 20 days, according to the Iranian Minister.
In this meeting, the two sides informed of an 84 percent increase in commercial transactions between Iran and Turkmenistan in 2021.
Air and road transport, as well as an intelligent transportation system, were also negotiated.
Berdimuhamedov explained the development of transport infrastructures in Turkmenistan for increased freight transport; namely 230 km of Ashgabat–Turkmenabad Highway was operated last year.