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North-South Multi-Modal Transport Corridor Meeting Scheduled in Mumbai, India, in February
30 January 2015
EIRNS —The Astrakhan Post reported today the invitation sent out by the Indian Association of Ship Owners and Freight Forwarders to their colleagues from Russia and Iran to participate in a meeting in Mumbai in February, on international transportation bypassing the Suez Canal, along the Caspian Sea. Astrakhan Region is in southwestern Russia, abutting the Caspian Sea. The news item reported that the Astrakhan Region’s Minister for International and External Trade, Denis Afansev, has said specific steps would be discussed in Mumbai to renew freight transportation along the Caspian Sea. In the fall of 2014 the North-South route was tested to see whether it was economical. At that time, a member of the expert commission for the multi-modal North-South international transport route of the Indian Federation of Freight Forwarders, Sohel Kazani, and Ashish Sharma, second secretary at the Indian Embassy, visited Astrakhan. At the Mumbai meeting, Indian entrepreneurs plan to present their Russian guests with the results from freight containers sent along three routes including the most direct route Nhava Sheva (Mumbai, India), Bandar Abbas, Tehran, Bandar-e Anzali (Iran), Astrakhan (Russia), according to Boris Egorov of Russia-India Report. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to renew the ancient trading route along the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, and along the land route of Iran. The North-South route was also discussed in mid-January during a visit by Astrakhan Region’s Governor Alexander Zhilkin to India. The governor observed the unique nature of this multi-modal route, which can provide for the transportation of goods through Astrakhan to central and northern Russia as well as to Europe. "And now our joint task is to renew the operation of these unique routes," the Astrakhan governor said during his visit to India. During his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last December, Modi spoke about close links between India and Astrakhan. Modi told Putin: "When I was the chief minister of Gujarat State I visited Astrakhan and saw in the library Indian manuscripts. It also seemed to me that these two regions are very close to each other. In Astrakhan a building has survived called India House (the Indian trading lodge). It turns out that when Indian merchants travelled from India to Astrakhan they lived there," Egorov reported. Ramtanu Maitra |