MNA � The road ministers of Iran and Afghanistan met on Sat. and pledged to decrease costs in a move to develop road and rail transit between the two countries.







�We had a good and effective meeting and we reviewed all issues related to transportation and transit,� said Abbas Akhoundi, the Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development.

The Iranian minister made the remarks at a joint presser with the Afghan Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Muhammad Hamid Tahmasi, on Saturday in Tehran.

Akhoundi referred to the high volume of goods transit between the two countries, saying that around 180,000 trucks leave Iran for Afghanistan and vice versa in a year. He maintained that�this figure shows the broad volume of exchange between the two countries.

He then noted extensive talks between the two countries to ease transit and transport between the two countries, which led to some good agreements reached on decreasing costs.

The Afghan official, who was in Tehran at the official invitation of Akhoundi, said the two sides have reached agreement on many issues, the most significat of which is to maximize tapping the Chabahar port.

Afghanistan is a landlocked country between Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The Chabahar port, which lies on the Sea of Oman,�provides the closest and safest transit channel to Afghanistan as so far India has sent three cargo ships of wheat and grains to the port to be trucked to Afghanistan.