TEHRAN - Port and maritime cooperation between Iran and Syria has been increasing in recent years, and the establishment of sisterhood between Iran’s Imam Khomeini and Syria’s Latakia ports is going to pave the way for further development of relations in this area, a member of Iran-Syria Joint Chamber of Commerce said.

As reported by the portal of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), Shahla Amouri said the development of such collaborations requires increasing investments in the port infrastructure sector in order to facilitate the operations of shipping companies.

Regarding the need to develop maritime and port cooperation between Iran and the countries of the region, the official said: “There is good capacity in the country's ports, especially in the south of Iran, to cooperate and develop maritime transport with other countries in the region, however, the PMO needs to consider more incentives for investors.”

Port and maritime cooperation between Iran and Syria has been increasing in recent years, which creates more fundamental grounds in the development of relations, she stressed.

“The current situation [of trade between Iran and Syria] shows that Iran's cooperation with Syria in the field of maritime and ports is growing, and several transport companies with different capacities are currently active in this field.”

Back in February, Head of Iran-Syria Joint Chamber of Commerce Keyvan Kashefi had announced the establishment of a direct shipping line between Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas and Syria’s Mediterranean port of Latakia.

Iran and Syria had previously agreed on connecting the southwestern Iranian port of Emam Khomeini to Syria’s Latakia Port via a railway that passes through Iraq.

The two sides had signed an agreement in this regard back in July 2019, based on which Iran would construct the Shalamcheh-Basra railway between Iran and Iraq through which Iran’s Emam Khomeini Port will later be connected to Latakia Port in Syria.

Iran has close political and economic ties with both Iraq and Syria and the economic relations among the three nations have significantly developed in the past few years.

EF/MA