TEHRAN - Iran’s Ambassador to Baku Seeyed Abbas Mousavi says a new transit corridor stretching from the Islamic Republic through the Azerbaijan Republic and Georgia to Europe will become operational this week.
After the revival of the ECO corridor through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey and pilot launch of the international north-south corridor through Finland, Russia, the Azerbaijan Republic, Iran, the Persian Gulf and India, this week we will witness the activation of the new corridor through Iran, the Azerbaijan Republic, Georgia, the Black Sea and Europe, Mousavi said in a tweet.
The Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) corridor has been formed based on agreements in the 10-nation ECO, a key economic bloc that seeks to facilitate trade and investment in the region. The corridor, known as ECO’s east-west route, is expected to deepen economic relations between Iran, Turkey and Pakistan as founding members of the bloc.
The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long[1] multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road routes for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road. The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Bandar Abbas, Astrakhan, Bandar Anzali.