Zakeri made the remarks during the 5th meeting of the heads of railways from member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday.
He proposed organizing a trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan to standardize tariffs and enhance freight transportation.
Additionally, Zakeri suggested the formation of an expert working group to identify issues, eliminate obstacles and challenges in border areas, assess routes that are not connected to existing rail networks, and develop a financial model to attract necessary investment for the construction of these routes.
The CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways highlighted that Iran, given its strategic position as a bridge between East and West Asia and a connecting route between the significant continents of Europe and Asia, aims to strengthen partnerships and cooperation in transit and logistics with the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Describing the development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of transportation and transit as crucial, he underlined that the efforts to promote east-west and north-south transit routes that pass through Iran are essential.
He considered the North-South Intercontinental Corridor consists of the Southern Belt Pass, which connects China to Europe; the Almaty-Bandar Abbas Pass; the Almaty-Tehran-Istanbul Rail Pass, and the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul Corridor as one of the most important rail crossings, noting that Iran Railways is working to enhance international crossings from Iran by improving conditions, facilitating logistics, and increasing the capacity necessary for transporting goods from China, Russia, and Central Asian countries to Iran, India, Pakistan, and Europe.
Also, Zakeri emphasized that the North-South Corridor is one of the most significant rail transportation projects, adding that high-level negotiations are currently taking place between the Iranian and Russian governments to complete the Rasht-Astara railway line in Iran.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways described the Zahedan-Chabahar railway project as one of the largest and most strategic railway initiatives in Iran, noting that once this project is completed, Iran’s railway network will connect to a key oceanic port in the southeast, located on the coast of the Oman Sea and in the future, this connection will facilitate the transportation and transit of goods from India to Afghanistan and Central Asian countries via the Iranian rail network.