Envoy Highlights Iran-Azerbaijan’s Growing Cooperation in Road, Rail Transport
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan hailed the two countries’ close cooperation in the area of road and rail transport, saying that the Azeri government plans to exempt Iranian trucks from paying road taxes.
Speaking to some Azeri media outlets on Friday evening, Mohsen Pak-Ayeen pointed to a recent amendment to Azerbaijan’s tax law and said Iranian transport companies are to be exempted from paying taxes.
According to the new amendment, if Iranian commercial trucks unload in Astara railway station they will be exempted from paying road taxes for three years, the diplomat said.
He said that in another development in the area of transport, a railway connecting Iran’s holy city of Mashhad to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan will be inaugurated later this fall.
Earlier in July, Pak-Ayeen had said that the two countries are “seriously” resolved to complete the Rasht-Astara railway project and that they will continue talks on a $500-million loan from Baku to finance the project.
“Regarding Rasht-Astara railway, both Iran and Azerbaijan are seriously determined to complete (the project),” Mohsen Pak-Ayeen told reporters on July 9.
Negotiations are underway about Azerbaijan’s $500 million loan to Iran, the diplomat said, adding that an Iranian working group is to pay a visit to Baku within a couple of weeks to discuss the issue.
At a meeting in Baku on July 3, officials from Iran, Russia, and Azerbaijan exchanged views on the cost of building the crucial rail link project, which envisages connecting Iran’s northern city of Rasht with Azerbaijan’s Astara.
The three sides also studied the possibility of Russia’s participation in financing the project.
The budget for completion of Rasht-Astara railroad project is estimated at $1.1 billion, part of which will be supplied by the $500 million loan from Azeri banks.
When finished, the Rasht-Astara section will connect the rail networks of Iran and Azerbaijan through the border city of Astara.
The entire project constitutes part of the north-south corridor.
The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a multipurpose route for the transit of goods between Iran, Russia, Europe, India and Central Asia via shipping lines, railroad and land routes.
