BAKU, Azerbaijan, The new highway from Baku to the northern border with Russia will serve as the broad component of the North-South corridor, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov said, answering Trend’s question, during a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is on a visit to Baku.

According to him, a new Khanoba customs checkpoint will soon be put into operation on the Russia-Azerbaijan border, which will allow the passage of additional 1,000 trucks per day.

“The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is of utmost importance not only for Azerbaijan, Russia, and Iran. For full implementation, each of the parties knows and understands what it needs to do within the North-South corridor. Azerbaijan has invested a lot in the transport sector. We believe that our transport infrastructure is fully consistent with the goals and objectives of this corridor. Along with this, additional roads are currently being built,” the minister noted.

Bayramov emphasized that the sides also reached an agreement on the construction of new INSTC points.

“Azerbaijan stands ready for this. We know that consultations between Russia and Iran are still going on. We’re looking forward to the implementation of the long-discussed project and the building of the missing section of the Rasht-Astara railway. First of all, this route will result in significant growth of cargo traffic. Meanwhile, the issue, which was mentioned today in the context of the post-Karabakh conflict normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations on the opening of communication routes, including railways between the Azerbaijani and Iranian western districts, could also be a serious additional component of the North-South project. The construction of the missing part will connect Azerbaijan with the Iranian railway network,” he added.

Source: TREND News Agency