Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 22
Trend:
Azerbaijan and Iran have agreed to set up joint ventures in the production and processing of agricultural products, Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy and Industry said in an exclusive interview with Trend Dec.22.
The parties came to such an agreement within the framework of the tenth meeting of the Azerbaijani-Iranian Joint Commission on Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Cooperation in Tehran.
The meeting of the intergovernmental commission began its work Dec.21 and ended Dec.22 with the signing of the protocol. The co-chairman of the intergovernmental commission from the Azerbaijani side was Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev, the Iranian side - Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Mahmoud Vaezi.
“Enterprises will be created on both the territory of Azerbaijan and Iran,” the ministry said. “It is assumed that agricultural products at these enterprises will go to Russia by transit through the territory of Azerbaijan, as well as in the western direction, to the Black Sea, through the territory of Azerbaijan and Georgia.”
At the same time, Iran will be able to use the North-South rail corridor.
The North-South railway will link Northern Europe with South-Eastern Asia. It will serve as a link between the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
The project envisages construction of a cross-border railway bridge between Iranian and Azerbaijani Astara and 8-kilometers-long branch on Azerbaijan’s territory
The railway’s capacity will be 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million tons of cargo per year, according to the preliminary estimates. Moreover, 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be built along the railway.
At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo via the North-South corridor per year, while 15-20 million tons of cargo in the future.
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