Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan Ink Railroad Agreement
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Delegations from Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on Monday signed a trilateral agreement that will promote railroad cooperation between the three nations and also draws up new guidelines on the rail freight tariffs.
Managing directors of the three countries’ railroad companies in a Monday meeting in the Iranian capital of Tehran signed the agreement, which necessitates stronger trilateral cooperation on the international railway corridors that extend through the Iranian, Uzbek and Turkmen territories.
The agreement also stipulates that the three countries lay the ground for an increase in the volume of the freight that are transited into their land from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
According to the deal, Iran and Turkmenistan each agreed to offer a maximum 30% discounts on the cargo of cotton transited by train.
Delegates from the three countries had also held a separate meeting on Sunday to discuss the agreement in details.
Mohsen Pourseyed Aghaei, the managing director of the Iranian Railway Company (RAJA) had described the Sunday meeting as positive, adding that it was aimed at coordinating the policies of the three countries in the field of rail transit.
He had explained that once Tehran, Tashkent and Ashgabat come to an agreement on a single rail transportation tariff, the capacity of rail transit between the three countries will double.
Iran served as a transit route for some 10 million tons of commodities from March 2013 through January 2014.
Most of the goods were transited via road and the rest were transported by rail.
