Financial Tribune- Some 414,000 tons of freight have been transported between Iran and Turkey via rail since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started March 21), registering a 54% increase compared with last year’s corresponding period.

This was announced by Hossein Ashouri, director of Transit Commission at the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, in a meeting with Turkish State Railways’ deputy general manager, Mehmet Uras, and head of accounting and finance, Bekir Bas, in Tehran on Monday, Mehr News Agency reported.

“During our meetings over the past two days, we set the goal of increasing bilateral rail transactions to 1 million tons per year and to achieve this goal, we plan to reduce transport tariffs for 2018.

A meeting is scheduled for next month in Turkey to set the new tariff rates,” Ashouri said. The official added that the two sides have reached an agreement, based on which freight from Turkey will be transited to the Commonwealth of Independent States member countries and vice versa via Iran’s railroads. “To finalize the agreement, a meeting of Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan railroad officials will be held in Turkey in the near future,” Ashouri said.