Page 41 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Iran Dec17

9.1.3 Transport sector news
At the trilateral talks between Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan on November 1, Presidents Rouhani, Putin and Aliyev signed the Tehran Declaration, declaring their intent to develop three-way cooperation in fields including the long-awaited International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which is to connect Moscow to the Persian Gulf. The plan is to make the INSTC a 7,200-kilometre multimodal transport network. Using major junctions including Iran's sole oceanic port of Chabahar, Tehran, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Anzali, Baku, Astrakhan and Moscow, it is to utilise sea, rail and road transit routes to connect Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Russia and the Indian sub-continent.
India has started opening up a new trade route to landlocked Afghanistan via Iran’s Chabahar port, an option that allows the Indians to avoid regional rival Pakistan. Citing Indian media outlets, RFE/RL reported that on October 29 a trial shipment of 1.1mn tonnes of wheat was sent on its way to Afghanistan on a route taking it through Chabahar, a port India has agreed to jointly operate and develop with Iran. The Indians have been substantially delayed in developing and launching their part of the port —Iran’s only oceanic port, located on the Gulf of Oman with direct access to the Indian Ocean—to which it has committed significant investment. In recent months, Iran has publicly said that New Delhi is not meeting its commitments in developing infrastructure. However, India has experienced difficulties in finding suppliers to equip the port given anxiety among companies that fear being hit by US sanctions should they work on a major investment project in Iran.
Deputy head of the Afghan railway administration department, Abdul Bari Seddiqi, has said Uzbekistan is interested in helping Afghanistan build a railway line between the two countries “in order to have a direct route to Iran”, TOLOnews reported on October 30. The railway administration noted a new north-west railway link would help increase trade between Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The project is in line with China’s One Belt, One Road initiative which seeks to turn Central Asia into a transit zone with modern infrastructure for Chinese goods export. At the same time, Uzbekistan is strengthening its cooperation with Iran - a recent visit to Iran by Uzbek officials concluded the two countries must aim to greatly expand mutual trade. “The line would extend from Neyababad in Mazar-e-Sharif to Herat on one side and to Kunduz on the other; Uzbekistan can be connected to the Afghan railway lines via this link,” Seddiqi said. “The [Afghan President Ashraf Ghani] is expected to travel to Uzbekistan soon, and 16 memorandums of understanding, including a memorandum to start building a railway network will be signed. Transit problems will be resolved, and trade relations will be developed.” Sayam Pasarlay, spokesman for the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said.
Turkmenistan has launched the Bereket Locomotive Depot along the Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran international transport corridor, which links Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the Persian Gulf, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reported on October 23. The new facility will improve Turkmenistan’s status as a transport and transit hub, state-run Turkmen media outlets reported. The opening also comes on the back of growing signs of cooperation in Central Asia facilitated by reformist Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev - though recent border disputes between
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