Transit of commodities via the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC) is 30% more efficient both in terms of time and cost than the standard route which runs through the Suez Channel, according to Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Khatibi.
The official also referred to the significance of Rasht-Astara railway project as a key part of the INSTC corridor.
In addition to its economic goals and interests, the construction of Rasht-Astara railway, has national strategic interests in terms of international relations, facilitating exchanges and transactions and solidarity between countries, promoting national security and developing border areas, Khatibi said.
He stressed that the western branch of the INSTC corridor is of special importance as it facilitates access to Caucasus countries and has some shared parts with the South-West corridor which links the Persian Gulf to Georgia and the Black Sea.
Khatibi added that the western part of the corridor is also significant as he said that this part has only one middle country (Azerbaijan) in comparison to the eastern part which has two countries (Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) as middle countries.