Iran most economic transit route: Azeri envoy

'Iran's transit route in comparison to other routes is much economic and is 40 percent cheaper in terms of costs and 60 percent shorter in terms of time,' Azeri envoy to Iran Bonyad Hosseinov said to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Friday.

Commodities are shipped from Mumbai in India to Iran's Bandar Abbas on the southern coast of Persian Gulf and then transferred to Azerbaijan's Astara and then Russia, the diplomat elaborated explaining the low cost of Iran's transit routes.

He said that if the two countries' railways are connected, commodities loaded on the train in Bandar Abbas can be easily transferred to Europe and Russia.

Hosseinov also referred to electricity swap contract between Iran and Azerbaijan and said that Iran as a large country can help his respective country to export its electricity to other countries.

He said Tehran-Baku cooperation is not limited to their bilateral ties and there have been trilateral and multilateral agreements between these two neighboring countries with other partners in the region including Georgia, Russia and Turkey.

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