Iran-Turkmenistan Make Arrangements For Transit Of Goods

Tehran, Feb 17, IRNA -- Iran and Turkmenistan on Sunday made arrangements for transit of goods to and from the Central Asian nations. Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi expressed pleasure over the completion of the railway construction project linking Turkmenistan to Iran in Incheh-Boroun boarder within the next two months. In a meeting with Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov who is currently in Tehran at the head of high-ranking delegation, he added that the countries can now sign memorandum of understandings on cooperation in the railway sector. Akhoundi further noted that Sarakhs Railway currently has a capacity of transiting 10 million tons of goods per annum, but only one million tons of commodities are transited through this railway. He said that Chabahar Port current transit capacity is 3.5 tons which will reach 6.5 tons once the ongoing projects are completed in the next 18 months. Meredov, for his part, expressed pleasure over meeting Akhoundi and said that his country has widened roads on Lotfabad border in a bid to facilitate commutation between the two states. Meanwhile, the two countries will hold a joint meeting in Sarakhs border on February 24. Iran has focused on helping its Central Asian neighbors get access to the European markets./end