OREANDA-NEWS Moscow and Tehran have agreed to finance the completion of the missing section of the Rasht—Astara railways in Iran. The Russian Federation will provide a €1.3 billion state loan for the project out of €1.6 billion of its cost. It is assumed that the site will be built in less than four years, whereas 20 years have passed since the initial agreement on it. Meanwhile, the situation has changed since then. Market participants believe that there is no urgent need for the road anymore: the eastern and trans—Caspian corridors of the North-South MTK are available, which need a cargo base, as well as alternative and easier-to-implement projects. In addition, cargo from the ports of Iran to the border with Azerbaijan can be transported efficiently by road.

The governments of Russia and Iran, with the participation of the Presidents of both countries Vladimir Putin and Ebrahim Raisi, signed an agreement on cooperation in financing the design, construction and supply of goods and services for the creation of the Rasht—Astara railway in Iran for the development of transportation along the North—South International transport corridor (ITC).

As Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak clarified, the Russian Federation will allocate "an interstate loan of €1.3 billion for this, the total cost of the project is €1.6 billion." "85% is an interstate loan, repayable, of course, during the payback period of this project," the official said. Transportation along the corridor will have significant competitive advantages, Vladimir Putin said: "In particular, the delivery of goods from St. Petersburg, say, to Mumbai will take about ten days," whereas "the travel time along traditional trade routes is up to 30-45 days."