The head of the railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced during a two-day summit of ministers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation (ECO) member countries in Kazakhstan the need to review obstacles to railway cooperation between Iran and Kazakhstan, as well as the issue of connecting Iran's railway network with Afghanistan via Uzbekistan.
Jabbar Ali Zakeri spoke at the ECO ministerial summit in Kazakhstan about the development of railway infrastructure and increasing regional transit capacity, emphasizing the importance of expanding transport interaction between the region's states.
The head of the railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran, referencing the annual 'New Silk Road' conference held by Kazakh Railways and the country's Ministry of Transport, identified the main goal of the event as developing regional transport and strengthening international corridors.
Zakeri mentioned the opening of the Dostyk route last year—the second border crossing between China and Kazakhstan. He reported that work is ongoing to lay tracks on this 150-kilometer route, and the project is expected to become operational next year, which will increase the capacity of the East-West corridor.
The Deputy Minister of Transport and Urban Development noted that Kazakhstan's transit, despite restrictions in connections between Russia and Belarus with Europe, has increased by 20 percent, reaching approximately 30 million tons. He viewed this trend as evidence of the high capacity of rail transport in the region.
He also highlighted the digitalization of processes and the abolition of paper documents in exchanges between executive bodies as important steps taken by Kazakh Railways, explaining that this transformation has reduced the time for wagons to cross the border to approximately 30 minutes.
According to him, the movement of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states towards using an integrated digital system may contribute to simplifying rail transport and regional trade.
Zakeri stressed the significance of Iran utilizing these capacities and expressed hope that, given Iran's transport and border connections with neighboring countries, conditions will be created for the implementation of integrated digital systems.
The head of the railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran also recalled the long-standing railway relations between Iran and Kazakhstan and announced a significant increase in the capacity of freight traffic between the two countries.
He added that issues and obstacles in bilateral cooperation, railway network development, border connections, and especially the creation of a railway link between Iran and Afghanistan via Uzbekistan were discussed at the meeting.
Zakeri expressed hope that some of the agreements and decisions made at the summit will enter the implementation phase as early as next year, which will serve as a basis for strengthening railway cooperation and developing transit in the region.