The early completion of the International North-South Transport Corridor will be crucial to improving bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan. Both the countries should make joint efforts towards identifying issues and impediments in the smooth functioning of the corridor, said Rafeeque Ahmed, Vice-President, Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The corridor is the ship, rail and road route to move freight from South Asia to Europe through Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia. The route involves moving goods from India via ship to Iran. From Iran, the freight moves by ship across the Caspian Sea or by truck or rail to Southern Russia. From there, the goods are transported by truck or rail along the Volga River through Moscow to Nrthern Europe.

In 2001, Russia, Iran, and India signed an agreement to further develop the route. However, not much progress has happened on this front.

Ahmed requested B. M. Vinod Kumar, Ambassador of India to Azerbaijan to help in bringing about the connectivity.

At an interaction with the members of the chamber, Kumar said that Azherbaijan has gas and oil reserves of around $45 billion, which is 90 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. India imports very little crude oil from Azerbaijan, and can be increased significantly. The bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan is around $2 billion, he said.

Azerbaijan is also looking at investing in infrastructure development, agriculture, chemicals and the pharmaceutical sector. Indian companies can tap this opportunity, he said.

While the European companies dominate many of the sectors in Azerbaijan, Indian companies can form joint ventures with local companies to bid some of the projects, he said.

>raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW