Persian Gulf-Black Sea Corridor to be Launched

Mohammad Javad Atrchian, Director General of the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization (RMTO), announced the establishment of a new transport corridor to connect Iran to Europe, explaining, “Representatives of Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece and Azerbaijan have been invited to visit Iran on April 19 in order to finalize the Persian Gulf corridor to the Black Sea contract.”

Highlighting that the negotiations will be held in Iran and hosted by RMTO, the official said “During the session, the agreement drafted for the activation of a new Black Sea-Persian Gulf transport corridor will be finalized and signed by ministers of the five countries.”

Atrchian stressed that Iranian trucks are currently commuting on the route, adding, “Upon signing the deal, the governments will be obliged to offer certain services to them.”

He noted that Georgia and Azerbaijan have alleviated the need to offer visas for the Iranian side, and said, “Iran’s Foreign Ministry is taking similar steps for the remaining countries, though the case of Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union (EU), seems to be more complicated.”

The RMTO also referred to the commute of Iranian and Turkish trucks between the two countries, noting that “Both sides hold interests in the route, and meetings with the Turkish side are being undertaken in order to alleviate existing obstacles.”

Atrchian went on to stress that “We would not choose to neglect the current Turkish road route to Greece; rather, we seek to have parallel paths for the trucks to have more options, in addition to passing through Turkey.”

Accordingly, the new corridor is meant for Iranian trucks to pass through Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in order to reach the Black Sea, from which they can head to Bulgaria, Greece and even Italy using roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships.