The Rasht – Caspian Sea Railway in Gilan province, Iran, was inaugurated on Thursday (June 20) morning in the presence of Iranian and Russian officials, led by the interim President of Iran, Mohammad Mokhber, and the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Igor Levitin, along with Igor Babushkin, the governor of Astrakhan province. The ceremony was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Shahin Mustafayev, along with a number of ambassadors from neighboring countries. The length of the segment is 37 km.

The route is part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which connects the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via railways on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Russian delegation’s visit began on June 16 when Mehrdad Bazrpash, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Sustainable Development, received in Tehran Igor Levitin and Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s foreign relations committee. The talks focused on inspecting the construction stage of the Rasht-Astara railway, a route of over 164 km that includes the section opened on June 20.

During this meeting, the two sides highlighted the improvement of bilateral cooperation and the implementation of multilateral transport agreements, in order to increase the volume of goods transported along the INSTC.