ASTRAKHAN, March 1. /TASS/. A transport company set up with the participation of the Caspian cluster and Iran’s largest fund Mostazafan will be involved in transiting cargo by road on Iranian territory, Director General of Special Economic Zone Lotos Sergey Milushkin told TASS on Wednesday, adding that this will help speed up freight traffic via the North-South international transport corridor.

In 2020, the Special Economic Zone Lotos in the Narimanov district of Russia’s Astrakhan Region was integrated into the Caspian cluster with the port special economic zone in the area of the port of Olya. In 2022, the authorities of the Astrakhan Region signed a program of cooperation in the field of logistics and shipbuilding with Iran’s largest enterprise Mostazafan through 2026, which, among other things, stipulates an increase in freight traffic via the North-South international transport corridor.

"In the coming years, we see the Trans-Caspian route as the main one in the Caspian region as railway construction in Iran for launching the western route and boosting the throughput capacity via Turkmenistan for the eastern route will take at least several years. A Russian-Iranian company has been registered to deliver cargo now with the participation of the port special economic zone’s resident, which will be involved in the transit of cargoes through Iranian territory by truck. From the Iranian side a company, which is part of the Iranian Mostazafan fund, participates in the project, guaranteeing the timely delivery of cars and cargo safety," Milushkin said, adding that it will ensure uninterrupted promotion of the transit cargo flow from Iran’s northern to southern ports and expand multimodal freight via the North-South international transport corridor route.

He added that this particular section of the corridor fueled the highest concerns with logistics experts as there is no single major logistics company focusing on motor transportation in Iran, while the scale of transit cargo flowing via this route by land is huge.

On February 21, President Vladimir Putin said addressing the Federation Council that Russia would pay special attention to the development of the North-South international transport corridor, which would open up new avenues for business cooperation with India, Iran, Pakistan and Middle Eastern countries.

An intergovernmental agreement on the creation of the multimodal transport corridor North-South was signed by Russia, India and Iran in 2000. Later, the number of participants rose to 14. The project is aimed at attracting transit of cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries through Russian territory to Europe. Currently the project unites several various transport systems of separate countries. India has invested around $2.1 bln in it, with part of the funds being poured into the construction of transport infrastructure in Iran.