In St. Petersburg within the framework of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2023), held from 14 to 17 June 2023, a working meeting was held between Andrei Belousov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Mehrdad Bazrpash, Minister of Roads and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The meeting was also attended by Vitaly Savelyev, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Oleg Belozerov, General Director - Chairman of the "Russian Railways" JSC board, Kazem Jalali, Iranian Ambassador to the Russian Federation.

The main topic of the meeting was the International Transport Corridor (ITC) North-South, which links Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and India. More than 100 projects worth $38 billion are envisaged within the construction of the ITC. First of all, the parties discussed issues of implementation of the agreement on financing of the design and construction of Resht-Astara railway signed in St. Petersburg on 17 May 2023. In particular, they agreed to complete signing of the executive contract for the implementation of the project envisaged by the agreement as soon as possible.

In addition, SPIEF-2023 touched upon issues of cooperation in road and maritime transport within the North-South ITC, as well as in air transport. In St Petersburg, Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan agreed to increase the efficiency of the transit of fuel and other goods. In particular, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Planning Mehrad Bazrpash signed a relevant agreement with Yevgeny Moskvichev, head of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Infrastructure.

Back in May 2023, during the signing of an agreement on financing the construction of the Resht-Astara railway line, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak noted that this project could become an alternative to the Suez Canal. And at SPIEF-2023 this thesis was repeated by Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev. According to him, the 7,200 km rail, water and road multimodal transportation system, passing through Iran and Azerbaijan, will replace the former route, which crossed Europe and the Suez Canal.

According to experts, the main advantage of the North-South international transport corridor is the timing of cargo delivery. The southern sea route through the Suez Canal will take from St. Petersburg to Mumbai a month, if not a month and a half, to deliver goods. And through the Caspian region the delivery time will be within ten days! The main trade and transit routes will pass through Azerbaijan.

So far, the development of the North-South international transport corridor is hampered by the fact that the railway connection in the north of Iran in Gilan is interrupted. This naturally slows down trade and transit between Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The 164-kilometre Resht-Astara railway, which is under construction, will solve this problem. It will be an important part of the trade route, through which cargo and containers from Moscow and St Petersburg can be transported directly to the port of Bandar Abbas in the south of Iran in the Persian Gulf. In the opposite direction, imports of goods from India, Iran and Arab countries will go to Russia at a lower cost and in larger volumes.

However, the railway component of the North-South ITC can be launched much faster than the Resht-Astara railway line will be completed. Before the collapse of the USSR, there was already a direct railway route linking Russia and Iran via Azerbaijan and Zangezur. Reopening of the Zangezur corridor and restoration of the railway that ran through it will make it possible to establish the transit of goods in a matter of months, which will bring huge gains in time and geopolitically. In fact, transit through the Zangezur corridor can replace the Suez Canal for Russia in the very near future.

And it is strange that the authorities in Tehran hinder this project, which obviously has a huge economic effect both for Iran and for Russia, allied to it. In fact, Tehran has become the main opponent of Zangezur corridor, just to keep the gap between Nakhchivan AR and the main territory of Azerbaijan, and its role as a monopolist in providing the shortest connection between the two parts of the "torn" country by borders artificially drawn during the Soviet period.

 However, none of the North-South railway projects will work without Azerbaijan. Tehran's desire to retain 'control over communications and routes' unfortunately inhibits the launch of such a project - an 'alternative to the Suez Canal' - which is beneficial for all countries. Including for Armenia, if the 'new Suez Canal' passes through Zangezur.

After all, by definition Armenia will not receive a cent from the operation of the Resht-Astara railway! But Armenia will gain quite a concrete income if the rail transit from Russia to Iran passes through Zangezur in the near future. If of course Yerevan wants to build normal relations with its neighbours, rather than return to the policy of "eternal war" destroying demographically the Armenian people.

George Mazniashvili