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Russia expects Azerbaijan to join North-South corridor project — Putin

An agreement on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railroad section was signed by Moscow and Tehran on May 17, he noted

MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. Moscow expects Azerbaijan to join the agreements reached by Russia and Azerbaijan on the creation of the North-South transport corridor soon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the second Eurasian Economic Forum on Wednesday.

An agreement on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railroad section was signed by Moscow and Tehran on May 17, he noted. "This will permit connecting Russian ports in the Baltic and northern seas and Iranian ports on the coast of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. The construction of the new line is starting this year already," Putin said.

"The interaction in the context of the creation of this corridor is underway in a close partnership with Azerbaijan, and we expect the completion of preparations and the signing of respective documents in the trilateral format with the participation of the Azerbaijani side, meaning the agreement on cooperation on the development of railway infrastructure and freight transportation along the North-South route, soon," the president explained.

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.

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