TEHRAN – At the end of a two-day summit on transit cooperation between Iran and five Central Asian countries including Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, a cooperation document was signed by the parties on Sunday, IRNA reported.

As the chair of the mentioned summit, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Rostam Qasemi signed the mentioned document along with senior officials from the mentioned countries.

According to Qasemi, the semiannual summit is going to be held every six months from now on.

After signing the document, the minister told the press that the member countries of this summit have reached an understanding on the development of transit cooperation, the unification of transit tariffs, and the issuance of one-year visas for transit drivers under the framework of the said document.

The first summit on transit cooperation between Iran and five Central Asian countries kicked off in Tehran on Saturday and was wrapped up on Sunday.

During the two-day event, challenges and opportunities for expanding transit collaboration between Iran and the mentioned Central Asian nations were explored.

According to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari, Iran is seeking to reach common policies with Central Asian countries in order to achieve an annual 20-million-ton transit goal.

“Iran will provide transit routes to its landlocked neighbors to achieve this goal,” Safari said on Saturday.

Emphasizing the need for the development of international transit corridors passing through Iran, he added: “We must create a management system for such corridors in order to use for improving rail, sea, and air routes.”

“We will soon hold an international conference in this field,” he said.

EF/MA