Tehran, Tashkent, Ashgabat Discuss Railway Transportation Promotion
2021-May-5
TEHRAN (FNA)- Representatives of Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan railway organizations, through a video-conference meeting in Tashkent on Wednesday, discussed ways to increase transportation capacities.
The three countries’ delegations of railway organizations explored avenues for broadening practical cooperation in the field of transportation.
They agreed to increase the volume of cargo transportation through acceleration of transit of freight wagons as well as return of vacant wagons belonging to Uzbekistan from Iran.
The delegations also put special emphasis on organizing transit of pilot train through “Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman” Corridor.
In a relevant development in May 2020, transportation officials of the three countries agreed to take joint measures to ease cross-border relations as they are planning resumption of commerce affected by the coronavirus.
Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said the agreement was concluded in his video-conference meeting with the two Central Asian counterparts.
“We agreed to have joint protocols for controlling coronavirus in order to resume trilateral exchanges,” Eslami said.
According to the agreement, disinfection facilities will be set up for trains and trucks crossing the border between Iran and Turkmenistan.
The official said that a series of 20-meter-long tunnels will be built within the next 10 days on the border between the two neighbors to allow trade to resume after nearly two months of border closure.
He said Iran and Turkmenistan inked an MoU to share transportation information via electronic means.
The minister said Uzbekistan was also invited to join the mechanism to further ease the goods transit from Iran to Uzbekistan via Turkmenistan.
Eslami said Uzbekistan also agreed to remove border restrictions for a number of Iranian trucks that have been stranded in the country because of banning commutation into Turkmenistan.