Given the Western sanctions on Russia, the country is reconsidering its trade routes for an easier access to the Indian and Pakistani markets through the Iranian soil.
During a meeting in Tehran on Saturday with President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam Hossein Shafei, Chairman of Russian-Iranian Business Council Vladimir Obydenov said that the completion of Rasht-Astara railway in northern Iran is of special significance for Moscow.
He noted that Rasht-Astara railway would help link Pakistan to Russia.
Obydenov said that his country is ready to reconstruct the old railway in the Pakistani side if the Iranian side would complete its part as soon as possible.
He also referred to another way of transit in which Russia can send cargos to Iranian northern ports where they will be carried by trucks to Iranian southern ports and then transshipped to be sent to Pakistan and India by vessels.
He believed that this way of transit is a complicated way and therefore Russia is seeking to replace it with a railway transit to Pakistan and India through Azerbaijan and Iran.
Obydenov said that the chambers of commerce of Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India can form a working group to study the railway transit and offer their final proposals to their respective governments.
The ICCIMA president, for his part, said that the existing conditions are special for the entire region and require special decisions to be taken.
Noting that Iran faces shortage of wagons, Shafei said that this problem can be solved with the help of Russia.
He also said that Pakistan’s railway problems are not easily solvable. The president of Iran Chamber of Commerce said as an example that the dispatch of an Iranian rail cargo to Lahore, Pakistan took 35 days.
Chairman of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Hadi Tizhoush Taban, who was also present at the meeting, put forward some details about the mentioned railway and said that Iran is willing to complete Rasht-Astara railway with the help of Russia.