IRNA � Senior Azeri official lauded the important role of North-South Corridor in international transportation and called for boosting trade volume of the corridor.

All sides should do their best to increase trade volume from the International North�South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Head of the Azerbaijani Railways Javid Gurbanov told reporters on Saturday.

He said that the volume of trade exchanges, using Iran and Azerbaijan Republic's soil, was 27,000 tons in 2017, but increased to 270,000 tons in 2018.

The Azeri official said that he expects increase in trade volume to 600,000 tons in 2019 by using the capacities of Iran and Azerbaijan Republic.

The International North�South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road. The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Bandar Abbas, Astrakhan, Bandar Anzali, etc.