Iran is rushing to finish up construction at Razi-Kapikoy border point with Turkey to increase cargo and passenger transit between the two countries. "Given the bilateral agreements between Iranian and Turkish presidents to develop trade, finalising the infrastructure at the Razi border is our priority," said Shahram Adamnezhad, deputy for transport at Iran’s Road and Urban Development Ministry.
“The first phase of building a [cargo and passenger] terminal at the Razi-Kapikoy border has finished,” added the official. He added the government has earmarked 600 billion rials (more than 500,000 dollars) for the second phase of the project.
Iran will also finish in a six-month-time paving 7 kilometers of the 64-kilometer road between Khoy, the major Iranian city in Western Azerbaijan country, and the Razi village, said the official.
Razi is the last Iranian settlement in Western Azerbaijan Province, located at some 5 kilometers from the border with Turkey.
Road and Urban Development Ministry is expected to finish studying the costs and phases of asphalting the remaining parts till the end of the current Persian year (21 March).
Some 520,000 people cross the Razi-Kapikoy border between Iran and Turkey each year. The crossing is the only border with both rail and road facilities between the two countries. Tehran and Ankara have vowed to upgrade their bilateral trade following the latest meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara last December.