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Mohammad Ali Saeedipour made the remarks during a visit to Astara Port in northern Iran on Sunday.
He said, “An Iranian delegation visited ports of the Republic of Azerbaijan in recent days and now an Azeri delegation is touring ports of northern Iran in return.”
He referred to the ongoing plans to promote tourism through ports and said, “Iran follows up the tourism development projects through connecting the Port of Astara to the [national] railway.”
He added, “The distance between Astara Port and major neighbor ports is less than 600 km. Azerbaijan have been responsible for 63% of Astara Port’s trade during the past two years.”
Director General of Baku International Sea Trade Port Taleh Ziyadov, for his part, said, “The five active Azeri ports and those of northern Iran can contribute to both countries’ growth and development.”
Governor of Astara Younes Ranjkesh was also present in the visit.
He said, “Creating cereals and oil terminals has led to enhancement of loading and unloading infrastructures.'
Over 800,000 passengers cross Astara land border each year, said the governor.
He added that Astara multi-purpose port, covering an area of 60 hectares, will be able to load and unload 2,500-ton ships upon completion.
The port will be able to perform loading and unloading operations of 3.5m tons of commodity through five docks, he said adding, one and half million tons of the port’s capacity and a dedicated dock will be assigned to fuel and other oil products.
The city of Astara is located in northwestern Iran and shares border with Azerbaijan Republic.
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