TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO) Valiollah Afkhami Rad announced that the country plans to establish new regular shipping lines in the Caspian Sea in a bid to increase trade ties with the Lake's littoral states.

The TPO plans to sign an agreement, according to which, the regular shipping lines will be established in the Caspian Sea, Afkhami Rad said.



He said the agreement will help Iranian traders and exporters send their commodities to Russia and other markets in the Caspian Sea region.

Over the past years, due to irregularity and high transportation costs, the value of Iran�s exports to the littoral states of the Caspian Sea was not that significant, the Iranian official noted.

This is while the countries, especially Russia, are among Iran�s most important export targets, Afkhami Rad added.

The move came after Russian officials said Tehran and Moscow have agreed to increase the value of their annual bilateral trade to $10 billion.

By Tasnim News Agency