A trilateral meeting between Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia agreed to reduce railway tariffs by 50% in order to activate North-South Transport Corridor, according to Mehr News Agency.

Representatives of Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan, in a trilateral meeting in Moscow, exchanged views over organizing cargo within framework of the North-South international transport corridor through territory of Azerbaijan Republic as well as development of transit potential of Iran’s Astara border terminal.

The main objective of the tripartite session was to determine preferential tariff rates for 2017 and determine transfer time on the route.

Representatives of the three states mulled over activation of the route for transportation of cargos from Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia and Finland to the Persian Gulf and India and vice versa. They also reached consensus on tariffs rates.

Deputy Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway Company for Operation Affairs Hossein Ashouri stated that “after 14 years, Iran, Russia and India have finally agreed on launch of the corridor while the first test freight train was deployed to the Mumbai-Bandar Abbas- Astara-Moscow route in 2016.”

“It was agreed during the trilateral meeting that the route will become operational with a 50% cut in tariffs,” said the official voicing optimism that the new corridor will become seriously activated once Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Belarus join the route.

On other relevant measures, the official said “in addition to assistance in reducing tariffs, Russia also offered to introduce the corridor package to all visitors to the International Exhibition for Transport and Logistics Services and Technologies (Trans Russia 2017).”

“Given that construction of Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line project will be accomplished in two months, Tehran and Baku are firmly determined to enable the corridor,” underscored Ashouri anticipating that Qazvin-Rasht route will become operational within the next six months speeding up freight transportation.