TEHRAN – Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Shahriyar Afandizadeh on Sunday suggested the formation of a joint multinational fund for infrastructural investments and multimational transport/logistics companies among regional countries during the ministerial meeting held in Baghdad.
he meeting hosted transport ministers from the neighboring countries and member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) on May 27, 2023, and represented the endeavors of Iraq’s government to strengthen cooperation and foster economic integration with the neighboring countries.
In the meeting, Afandizadeh, delivered a speech and conveyed the message of Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash. He expressed his satisfaction for attending this meeting.
Emphasizing the role of governments for promoting regional trade and supply chain management along transport corridors through key agreements and alignment of policies, the deputy roads minister proposed Iran’s strategic initiatives for greater synergy among transport corridors and transit routes.
The initiatives included formation of a joint steering committee for management and supervision, establishment of a joint fund for financing and investment on transport infrastructures, and multinational transport and logistics companies for facilitating transfer of technological experiences in the field of logistics and multimodal transportation, he added.
The joint steering committee can advance policies and strategies including targeting volumes of annual transit between countries in the short- and long term through existing and future corridors, supporting the joining of non-member countries to corridors, creating a unified management mechanism for all the transit corridors of the member countries in line with the realization of the aforementioned targeting and also removing the obstacles for the development of corridors, Afandizadeh further explained.
Turning to the unique location of Iran en route international corridors, the deputy roads minister stated that International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) connects the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, Central Asia, Caucasus, Russia and Turkey from northern Europe to Syria via Iranian soil.