Iran’s Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, recently mentioned that authorities in Tehran and Moscow are exploring the possibility of establishing a cooperative shipping firm as part of their efforts to strengthen strategic cooperation.
Jalali made these comments during an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Friday, highlighting the efforts to strengthen the maritime fleet between Tehran and Moscow.
“There is a need to reinforce our ports and strengthen the shipping fleet, even by creating a joint shipping company. I recently spoke with Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Andrey Belousov, about this, and Iran’s Minister of Transport also discussed the topic with him. Our Russian counterparts welcomed the idea of establishing a joint shipping company,” emphasized the Iranian diplomat.
He also mentioned that “countries need to develop ports and link them like railroads. The potential for freight shipping is enormous there.”
Moscow and Tehran are collaborating on various fronts to promote bilateral commerce, accelerate the development of transport links, including the International North-South Transit Corridor and its Caspian Sea component, and integrate their banking systems to facilitate financial operations. Recently, Iran, India, and Russia held a high-level meeting to ensure the smooth implementation of the INSTC. This move coincides with Iran and Russia’s efforts to finalize a long-term strategic cooperation agreement, which will create new opportunities for collaboration. Trade exchanges between the two nations quadrupled in 2022, and Russia became Iran’s largest foreign investor during the Iranian calendar year that ended in March, with investments totaling $2.76 billion.
Iran and India are also focused on optimizing the Chabahar Port fully, which will enhance connectivity to Central Asia.