MNA � Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi said the commercialization of North-South corridor has been put atop agenda of the ministry.


�With possessing suitable transport infrastructures in various sectors, Islamic Republic of Iran plays an important role in growth and development of business in Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) region especially landlocked countries, �he maintained.

Speaking in the 9th Transport Ministerial Meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), held in the port of T�rkmenba?y, he stated, �the Ministerial Meeting on the transportation of North-South corridor will be held in Oct. 2018 in Tehran and issues related to the commercialization of this corridor, tariff regulation and other relevant issues will be studied meticulously in an expert-level session.�

He pointed to the inauguration of the first phase of Chabahar Port Development Project with its current capacity of eight million tons and said, �development project of Chabahar Port will be launched in cooperation with foreign parties as joint venture.�

Special transit route of Chabahar Port in connecting East Asia to the Indian Subcontinent and Afghanistan to the Central Asia, Russia and Europe will greatly contribute to the prosperity of the regional and international transit route and consequently, the ease of trade and business activities in this region, Akhoundi maintained.

Necessary preliminaries and mechanisms to study commercialization of North-South rail corridor between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran will be finalized soon, he said, adding, �I hope that Ministerial Meeting of transportation of countries located in corridors of China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran, which connect China to Iran and Europe using this transit route, will be held in Afghanistan significantly.�

In conclusion, Iranian Roads Minister Akhoundi placed special emphasis on accelerating implementation of Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA) plan, removing non-physical barriers and unnecessary formalities in transportation and transit as well as operating rail and road corridors in ECO region, etc.