TEHRAN - The seventh meeting of the coordination council of International North South Transit Corridor (INSTC) wrapped up on Tuesday and the council reached a conclusion including several important decisions regarding the corridor.

As reported by the Iranian transport ministry news portal, equalization of customs tariffs for member countries, establishing a joint company by the member states and determining a corridor manager in each country were among the decisions which were made at the end of the two-day gathering.

According to Iranian Deputy Transport Minister Shahram Adamnejad, establishing a joint company between all member states has been one of the major decisions reached in the meeting and the plan for this company will be designed, analyzed and executed within the next few months.

“As for determining an executive manager for each country, it was decided that each member will introduce its nominate representative to the INSTC secretariat in the Iranian transport ministry within a month.” Adamnejad said.

The deputy minister also pointed to customs tariffs, saying “Equalization and synchronization of customs tariffs among the member states was another decision which was emphasized in the meeting. I hope this happens in the next three months.”

The seventh meeting of the coordination council of INSTC kicked off on Monday in Tehran.

Iranian Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami, deputy transport minister along with senior officials and delegations from the member nations attended the opening ceremony.

During the two-day summit, the fourteen member countries explored ways of facilitating cooperation among the member states and discussed new approaches to increase the volume of trade through increasing the economic attractiveness of the corridor as well as its competitiveness compared to rival corridors in the region.

INSTC is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

EF/MA