Railway talks wrap up in Baku

Talks on railway cooperation between Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia are due to wrap up in Baku today.

The talks covered the implementation of earlier agreements on a North–South railway corridor that aims to provide a rail link between Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. They also discussed Russian proposals on how to cooperate more effectively in future.

In March, all three countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the project which included an agreement to undertake a six-month feasibility study.

“In our opinion, the project is developing irregularly and we would like the work to be systemic,” the Azerbaijani news agency ABC quoted a representative of Russian Railway as saying.

He added that Russia plans to be actively involved with the project and may invest in construction works.

A representative of Iranian Railways said 30 percent of the Kazvin–Resht railway segment, which will form part of a North–South rail corridor between the three countries, has already been built.