/ world today news/ For Russia, Iran is one of the doors to the “turn to the east”, and for Iran, Russia is a “support to the north”. Their interaction can take on the meaning of a transregional integration project called Meridian Eurasia.
After it became clear that the anti-Russian sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis “closed Europe”, Moscow’s breakthrough in the East and overcoming obstacles to foreign trade is a strategic necessity for it.
The railway line. Ivan Shilov. Regnum
As a result, the problems of creating new logistics came to the fore, especially in the direction of the North-South transport corridor connecting the Indian Ocean with Russia and Europe, where everything must be brought to the level of systemic security, taking into account the changed foreign political circumstances .
We are talking about the southern multimodal route, which was previously not seriously sought after, but only recently began to be sought after. This is the route from India from the port of Mumbai via the Iranian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas.
According to experts on this route, cargo is delivered faster, prices are reasonable. But there is a problem with carrying capacity: the railway line here is not finished, there is no necessary infrastructure, including ports.
It is this direction that has now begun to receive increased attention, but no longer because of previous calculations, according to which the new route would become a cheaper and shorter alternative to the Suez Canal route.
During a recent visit to Iran to attend the Troika summit in Astana, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was ready to build a section of the Rasht-Astara railway in Iran, which would contribute to “restoring transport infrastructure in Southern The Caucasus with access to Iran and the launch of the North-South corridor.
“Now, as you know, the first experimental, test train has already started on the North-South route. This is a short road with access to Iran’s southern ports, and here is the road to the Persian Gulf and India,” Putin explained.
– “There is one specific section Rasht – Astara. This is a small territory of Iranian territory, 146 kilometers. There the question is to build a section, I repeat, only 146 kilometers. The Russian side is ready to do it. We must agree on the terms of this construction. I hope now we will start concrete work. After that, the work itself is interesting for us, it is actually import work, the import of our services for Russian railways,” he also said.
At the same time, Putin emphasized that Baku is also interested in the construction of this section and that this issue was discussed at a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev within the framework of the Caspian Summit. The Iranian side also declared its active support for such a proposal.
We recall that this project was launched back in 2009 with the participation of Azerbaijan, but until recently, for various reasons, it remained in a “suspended” state despite Baku’s active efforts to convince Tehran to build the Astara-Rasht railway. But the issue began to develop only after Russia’s real intervention in the project and Iran’s awareness of the new geopolitical realities.
In this way, a continuous rail link between Russia and Iran can emerge and the cost of transportation on the route between Mumbai and St. Petersburg will decrease.
The railway corridor Astara – Rasht – Qazvin. Parishan
But it’s not just that. There will be a significant redirection of the freight flow along the future North-South MTK in the Russian direction. In addition, new communication opportunities will lead to the strengthening of integration processes specifically between Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
Such a course of events will inevitably affect the political interaction of these countries, which will solve the problems already taking into account serious common economic, transport and logistics problems.
At the same time, this project significantly increases the role of Russia and Iran in Transcaucasia, creates a certain counterbalance to Turkey’s influence there, and generally strengthens Iran’s transit position not only in the Middle East. It is no coincidence that Iran’s spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, in a meeting with Putin, said that “this project will complete the North-South transport line and will benefit both countries.”
Therefore, the delay in the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section is explained not only by the traditional slowness of the Iranian bureaucracy or the lack of funding.
It’s just that now the importance of the so-called Zangezur Corridor, through which Baku plans to establish communications with Nakhchivan with access to Turkey through the territory of Armenia, is decreasing.
Moreover, given the Ukrainian crisis and the lack of security in parts of the Black Sea, the use of the Iranian route will also be important for European countries. Moscow makes it clear that its choice to expand cooperation with the southern part of Eurasia through the transport arteries of the Caspian Sea and Iran is of a long-term nature.
In this regard, the focus of attention on the problems of Transcaucasia will also change. Moscow, like Tehran, has new incentives to act. For Russia, Iran is one of the doors to the “turn to the east”, and for Iran, Russia is a “bulwark to the north”.
Their interaction can go beyond the framework of the transport project and acquire the significance of a transregional integration project called “Meridian Eurasia”. So big changes are coming in the Greater Middle East.
Translation: SM
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