Turkmenistan expresses interest in the North-South route, which is a good option for participants of economic activity, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week held from October 11-13 in Moscow, TASS reported.
“North-South route is a particularly favourable option, and many of our partners are interested in it, Azerbaijan is also showing interest, and part of the route should pass through the territory of Azerbaijan, on one side of the Caspian Sea.
On the other side of the Caspian Sea there are Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with access to Iran and then to the Persian Gulf,” Putin said.
President Vladimir Putin stated that the expansion of the Northern Sea Route is a definite plan, emphasizing its feasibility. He mentioned that all the necessary routes are already known and under discussion. Additionally, he mentioned that the preliminary work for the North-South transport corridor project is nearing completion, and construction is anticipated to commence shortly.
The North-South project includes the establishment of a multimodal route from St.Petersburg to the port of Mumbai in India, with a total length of 7.2 thousand kilometres.
There are three variants of the route: trans-Caspian (using railway tracks and ports), as well as western and eastern (land-based).In May 2023, Russia and Iran signed an agreement on the completion of the last necessary railway section of the western route - Resht-Astara in Iran.