Russia and Iran have common interests in developing north-south project

The development of Russian and Iranian infrastructures creates incentives for the active use of the transport corridor "North-South," said Russia's minister of transport Sergei Frank, who is now visiting Iran as head of the representative Russian delegation, in an interview to RIA Novosti. "The talks in Iran confirmed our common interests in developing the "North-South" project, he said. Besides, the two parts fully realize that they can create an interesting alternative to the traditional routes of delivering loads from Europe to Asia and back. Frank pointed that during the meeting with Iran's first vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref and minister of roads and transport Ahmad Khoram plans for bilateral development of the infrastructures were defined more precisely, and priorities for the coming five years were set. "With the Iranian minister of transport we have come to terms about meeting in St.Petersburg on April 21, where we will be joined by our Indian counterpart. At these trilateral negotiations the Russian part plans to announce that the agreement on the transport corridor "North-South" comes into force," said the Russian minister. Five other countries - Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria - have already expressed their willingness to join the project, he said. Moscow and Teheran are fully conscious that the corridor has to be quick, mobile and profitable in order to be competitive, and the parts will make uttermost efforts to reach these goals.