Iran Hopes North-South Corridor Will Be Completed Before 2025 - Economy Minister

Tehran hopes to see the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) finished and launched before 2025, Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs Ehsan Khandozi told Sputnik

TEHRAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2023) Tehran hopes to see the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) finished and launched before 2025, Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs Ehsan Khandozi told Sputnik.

"We hope to witness the 'North-South' corridor project completed and railroads opened before the current Iranian government's terms in office are expired," Khandozi said. The present administration in Iran under the leadership by President Ebrahim Raisi has been presiding since 2021, and is expected to step down at the end of a four-year term in 2025, although with an option of being reelected.

The North-South Corridor is an international multi-mode network nearly 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) long connecting St. Petersburg, Russia and Mumbai, India.

The corridor is an alternative to the sea route connecting Europe, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean countries via the Suez Canal. There are three ITC routes: Trans-Caspian (using railways and ports), western and eastern (land routes).

The INSTC project initiated in 2002 by a trilateral agreement between Russia, Iran and India is almost complete with the Astara-Rasht section in Iran remaining unfinished. On March 17, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran announced they were preparing an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the last section. The document is expected to be signed this year. On July, 2022 Russian company RZD announced that the first transportation from Russia to India had been successfully carried out via the eastern branch of the corridor.