Tajikistan Launches Rail Transit Route through Iran

The first freight train of Tajikistan heading for Turkey began its journey through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, in a ceremony on Wednesday, Deputy Transport Minister Shahriyar Afandizadeh announced. According to Afandizadeh, senior officials from the mentioned countries attended the inauguration ceremony held in Dushanbe, Mehr News Agency reported. The ceremony was also attended by transport companies, businessmen, and transport officials. Upon the invitation of the Minister of Transport of Tajikistan to attend the opening ceremony of the multimodal transport corridor along Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Turkey's territories, delegations from these countries visited Dushanbe on October 17. The Iranian delegation also visited the city of Kulob, which is a free zone of Tajikistan and is supposed to be the center of trade, transit and industry of Tajikistan. Tajikistan's logistics conference was simultaneously held with the participation of various countries. On the sidelines of this conference, bilateral meetings were held between Iran, the Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan and the Minister of Transport of Tajikistan regarding the expansion of cooperation, especially in transit, Iran's deputy transport minister said. Targeting 20 million tons of freight transit was one of the most important agendas of these meetings. It was decided to conclude a joint action plan and a new transit agreement with Uzbekistan so that bilateral cooperation can be operational both along the north-south corridor and in the east-west corridor.
Noteworthy, during the first ministerial summit on transit cooperation among regional countries on October 8-9 which was initiated for the first time by Iran, tripling the volume of transactions and 20 million tons of freight transit through Iran's territory were targeted. - Tehran Times