Tehran, Dec 15 (MRUD NEWS) – The 12th meeting of joint taskforce between Islamic Republic of Iran and Russian Federation was held on 13-14 December through video-conference in order to follow up promotion of multimodal transport along International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

The meeting had been attended by Amir Mahmoud Ghaffari, the Deputy Minister for Resource Planning and Management at the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development, and Dmitry Zverev, Secretary of State and Vice Minister of transport of Russia as well as technical taskforces in rail, maritime, aviation, and road modes.

The two-day meeting drafted the upcoming MoU for Iran, Russia international transport and transit cooperation which is expected to be finalized and signed in one week.

The two sides are initiating to form a joint company to facilitate transport along INSTC.

Ghaffari emphasized on the development of multimodal transport and transit along INSTC and advancing facilitating strategies including intelligent unification of the processes for freight transit system.

International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a multi-modal transport project initiated by Russia, Iran, and India in 2000 for moving freight and promoting transportation cooperation among the Member States. INSTC is a strategic connectivity project in Central Asia and Europe. This corridor connects India Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Islamic Republic of Iran and Azerbaijan, and is then connected to Saint Petersburg and North European via Russia.