TEHRAN - The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) has announced Iran's readiness to transport 10 to 15 million tons of rail freight annually from Sarakhs, Incheh Borun, Amir-Abad, Caspian and Astara crossings.

Jabar-Ali Zakeri made the remarks in a meeting with Nurlan Sauranbayev, the head of Kazakhstan National Railways Temir Zholy, on the sidelines of the 81st meeting of the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

“In order to activate the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC), the volume of exchanges must be increased, and despite the bottlenecks, if the volume of cargo is ensured, it is possible to increase the capacity,” Zakeri said at the meeting.

Sauranbayev, for his part, referred to his country's interest in the development of transit and transport cooperation with neighboring countries and said: “The position of Kazakhstan's railway is such that it plays an essential role in the region’s transit, and I hope that we can work together to transport four million tons of cargo through the North-South corridor.”

He thanked the Iranian Railways for reducing freight tariffs and reducing the time of cargo processing, and added: “Kazakhstan has the ability to send 15 million tons of cargo annually through this corridor (NISTC), and for this purpose we need more cooperation from Iran.”

The official invited Zakeri to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan.

The 81st meeting of the CIS Rail Transport Council was held earlier this month concurrently with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Uzbekistan Railways, and on the sidelines of the event, Zakeri also held talks with the head of the railways of Uzbekistan to discuss ways of increasing international rail transport between the two countries.

EF/MA