Western countries intend to oppose the creation of a North-South international transport corridor, writes the Iranian economic newspaper Financial Tribune. We are talking about a large-scale continental project promoted by Iran, India and the Russian Federation, which will include a number of road, rail and sea routes.
The United States and the EU see the North-South corridor as a means of circumventing the sanctions and intend to resist it. To do this, they are ready to use secondary restrictions, which will also hit countries that are not yet affected by direct restrictions.
The publication notes that New Delhi has already “challenged the West by maintaining economic ties with Moscow, and has ambitions to use the North-South Corridor to strengthen trade relations with Central Asia and Europe.”
At the same time, India’s hopes of trading with Europe in this way are crumbling due to anti-Russian sanctions, reducing its investment attractiveness for the Asian powerhouse.
At the same time, the Financial Tribune recalls that the project is experiencing technical difficulties.
One of the major gaps (in the corridor) is the long-awaited 164-kilometer Rasht-Astara railway in Iran. Funding problems have delayed its completion, although Russia now appears to have agreed to fund the work.
- says the article.
The Iranian business daily Financial Tribune also points to other logistical problems in Iran, such as an acute shortage of rail freight wagons and road transport, as well as bureaucratic obstacles slowing transit traffic. The publication also highlights the small number of merchant fleets in the Caspian and the fact that the port of Astrakhan in southern Russia freezes over in winter, severely restricting access, as well as the lack of dredging on the Volga and the Volga-Don Canal, which reduces the capacity of ships.
Photos used: Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları
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