Russian Agriculture Ministry, Russian Railways ordered to develop agricultural products supply route to Armenia via Azerbaijan - Russian deputy PM

KUALA LUMPUR. Oct 27 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan has confirmed the possibility of using its railway network for the export of agricultural products from Russia to Azerbaijan, this route is currently in the works, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told reporters on Sunday.

"Two days ago, the Azerbaijani side confirmed to us that it would be possible to use Azerbaijan's railways for transit of Russian products via the territory of Azerbaijan to Armenia, in other words, we also have a very interesting progress in this area. Russian Railways, together with their colleagues in the region, are currently addressing issues of organizing this transportation," he said.

"At the same time, we gave relevant instructions to the Agriculture Ministry to develop this new logistics route," he said.

Last week, a trilateral Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran meeting took place in Baku to discuss the development of transport corridors, including the International North-South Transport Corridor, Overchuck said.

"As for the North-South Corridor itself, we're seeing the same progress, which is currently being made in Azerbaijan in terms of the construction of the Azerbaijani section. A very notable work is currently underway in Iran on the purchase of land plots for the Rasht-Astara [planned section of the North-South Corridor in Iran]. At the same time, design and survey works are underway, a geodetic reference network has already been developed, and aerial photography is being prepared, in other work, a normal working process for preparations of the constriction of the Rasht-Astara railway is ongoing," he said.

The International North-South Transport Corridor will enable Russia to enter markets of Southeast Asia among other things, Overchuk said. Trade partnership with countries of this region will be discussed at bilateral talks with the Russian delegation's participation on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit on October 26-28, he said.