Iran, Azerbaijan eye to boost trade ties between ports

By Azernews

By Sara Israfilbayova

Iranian ports and the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Azerbaijan are keen to increase trade and transport.

Deputy CEO of Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) for Maritime Affairs of Iran Hadi Haghshenas said that talks are underway in this direction, adding that more efforts will be put into facilitation of transit of goods via the North-South corridor.

Haghshenas pointed to the participation of an Iranian trade and business delegation at the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), held in Baku, and stressed the participaiton of the Iranian delegation in this prestigious meeting was a suitable opportunity to discuss and review port potentials and capacities between the two countries.

“Many investors are not familiar with the capacity of Iranian ports. For this purpose, Iran’s active presence in the prestigious international events will significantly help boost bilateral relationship between Tehran and Baku.”

The International Association of Ports and Harbors represents about 180 ports and about 140 port-related enterprises in 90 countries. Members of the organization carry out more than 60 percent of the world’s marine trade and control 80 percent of global container traffic. Each year IAPH holds conferences in major port cities. So far, the conferences have been held in Los Angeles (2013), Sydney (2014), Hamburg (2015), Panama (2016) and Bali (2017).

The main theme for the IAPH Baku 2018 World Ports Conference is “Ports of Future: Building Hubs, Accelerating Connectivity.” Four-day conference will focus on the important and interesting topics like emerging transport corridors in the region and around the world, contribution of the free trade zones to the domestic economy and the economy of the neighboring countries, the concept of “SmartPorts”, “Green Ports” as well as marine tourism. The conference agenda also includes technical visit to the new Port of Baku in Alat. The participant will get a chance to see Alat Free Trade Zone which is a main part of Azerbaijan’s grand hub vision.

The event was attended by port heads, government representatives, professors and experts from around the world, including Europe, Japan, Iran, Georgia, Indonesia, Nigeria and others. The participants of the event will discuss cargo transportation along the Silk Road, the development of transport hubs and the role of ports, as well as issues of multiculturalism, cultural differences in global logistics, the work of free trade zones, increasing competition among them and other topics.

The multifaceted relations between Iran and Azerbaijan are gaining momentum and deepening. The joint large-scale economic projects reinforce peace and stability in the region.

Over the past four years, 10 meetings between the heads of state and more than 100 mutual visits of officials took place, the legal framework between the states strengthened and more than 40 documents on cooperation were signed.

Iran has invetsed $ 3.1 billion to Azerbaijan. More than 700 Iranian companies have been registered in the fields of industry, construction, services, communication, trade, transport and agriculture.

Works in joint car production plant between the countries and work on setting up a pharmaceutical plant in Pirallahi Industrial Park are underway.

The North-South transport corridor, one of the key areas of the Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation, is being intensively carried out.

About 8.3 km railroads in Azerbaijan, 1.4 km-in Iran over Astara River is ready for operation and now the test trains have been carried out.

In 2017, more than 19,000 Azerbaijanis crossed from Russia to Iran and vice versa, and the national carriers in Iran increased by 23.2 percent. The number of tourists arriving from Iran to Azerbaijan increases year by year and reached 363,000 in 2017.