Russia Approves Turkmenistan’s Accession To the INSTC
The Russian Federation has approved Turkmenistan’s accession to the Agreement on the International North-South Transport Corridor, (INSTC) with the corresponding order signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was instructed to notify Iran of this decision.
Mammetkhan Chakiyev, the Director of the Turkmenistan Agency for Transport and Communications has reported that work is underway on procedures and projects related to Turkmenistan being part of the INSTC.
The original purpose of creating the ‘North-South’ corridor is to reduce the delivery time of goods from India to Russia, via Iran, as well as to Northern and Western Europe. That has now been extended, with Turkmenistan’s role within the INSTC seeing its Caspian Sea Turkmenbashi Port become an INSTC node with routes leading east to both Uzbekistan and in time, to Afghanistan. Routes have also been explored that will provide links via Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to China.
Goods exiting Turkmenbashi Port can be directed north to markets in Russia via Astrakhan, to the Caucasus, Turkey and European Union through Azerbaijan’s Baku Port, or south via Iran’s Anzali Port to markets throughout Iran, then exiting Iran’s Chabahar Port on the Persian Gulf via the INSTC railway to reach seaports along the Middle East, East Africa, India, and South Asia.
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