Andrey Belousov spoke about the development of the North-South transport corridor at the “Russia – Islamic World” forum in Kazan
Today, May 19, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov took part in the XIV International Economic Forum “Russia - Islamic World” in Kazan.
As Andrey Belousov noted in his speech at the plenary session of the forum, the North-South transport corridor is the largest geopolitical and geo-economic infrastructure project of the current decade. “It is an integral part of the process of becoming a multipolar world, a deep, fundamental tendency to transfer economic activity to the south and southeast. This is a promising direction that will develop in the future,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister.
The project involves the creation of the largest transport highway with a length of 6 to 8 thousand km, which connects the European part of Russia and access to the Persian Gulf. “The direct participants are the countries of the Caspian region - Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran. But the beneficiaries of this project are a wider range of countries. These are the countries of the Persian Gulf, India, China, the countries of Southeast Asia, Pakistan and many others,” noted Andrey Belousov.
Among the most significant issues in the development of the corridor were noted:
- development of the railway infrastructure of the route;
- development of road infrastructure and checkpoints across the state border;
- ensuring seamless and safe transportation;
- creation of adequate regulatory conditions for the transportation of goods.
The First Deputy Prime Minister said that a significant event was the signing on May 17 by the Russian Federation and the Republic of Iran of an agreement on the construction of the largest railway section of the western branch of the Astara-Rasht project.
“We expect and expect that in just a few years, by 2030, the volume of cargo traffic along the corridor will increase approximately three times and amount to about 41–45 million tons of cargo, but this is only the first stage. Economists’ calculations show that the potential for cargo traffic under this project is from 60 to 100 million tons,” Andrey Belousov emphasized.
At the end of his speech, the First Deputy Prime Minister expressed confidence that through joint efforts this task will be solved and the project will be fully operational in the coming years.
Also today, as part of his work at the forum site, Andrei Belousov held a number of meetings. Thus, he met with the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani Ahmed Al Zayoudi. The parties expressed hope for the signing of an Agreement on a free trade zone between the EAEU and the UAE, as well as a bilateral agreement on trade in services and investment by the end of this year. According to the forum participants, this should give an additional impetus to the development of cooperation between countries. Partners from the UAE were invited to develop technological cooperation and launch projects as part of the implementation of the concept of technological development.
At a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev, issues of developing trade and economic cooperation and implementing the project for the development of the North-South transport and logistics corridor were discussed. The need was emphasized for synchronizing measures to eliminate bottlenecks on the railway infrastructure, roads, including bypasses of Makhachkala, Derbent, Khasavyurt, at checkpoints and in some transport and logistics centers. They also discussed the creation of a single operator of the railway infrastructure of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.