July 28, 2009 - 20:16 AMT
Iran, Russia agree to intensify North-South corridor project
Iran's Ambassador to Russia Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi and State Secretary of Russian Ministry of Transport Sergey Aristov agreed to intensify implementation of North-South project, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

Armenia and Georgia have recently confirmed interest in the initiative.

International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), is a multi modal transportation established in 12 Sep. 2000 in St. Petersburg, by Iran, Russia and India for the purpose to promote cooperation among the member states. This corridor connects India Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Islamic republic of Iran, then is connected to St. Petersburg and North European via the Russian Federation.

The INSTC was expanded to include eleven new members: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Oman, Syria, Bulgaria (Observed).