Upcoming vote puts Armenia's European future to the test
When Armenians vote on 7 June, they will be voting in an election shaped by months of political change and a rapidly deepening relationship with the E...
Iran's Minister of Road and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadegh has said that Iran and Russia are scheduled to sign a railway agreement next month in Moscow.
The contract borders on the construction of Rasht-Astara railway and to complete integration of railways of Azerbaijan, India, Iran, and Russia.
Speaking during the launching of a road development project in central Iran on Sunday, the minister said the final agreement on signing the Rasht-Astara railway construction project in Iran’s Caspian Province of Guilan was reached during her visit to neighboring Azerbaijan earlier this month.
“The trilateral meeting in Baku on transport and cargo transportation between Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia was an important event that focused on completion of the North-South Corridor,” she said.
The Astara–Rasht railway is the missing link of the 7,200-km long International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that will link railways of Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and India.
It will be 162 kilometers long consisting of 56 bridges and 35 overpasses.
Meanwhile the deputy Minister of Road and Urban Development Houshang Bazvand has announced Russia’s agreement to finance the railway project worth 1.6 billion dollars.
“Russia has agreed to provide Iran with $1.6 billion in low-cost facilities, with a 3% interest rate for the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Neighboring Azerbaijan and Iran are two key hubs of the INSTC multi-modal transport network.
It is intended to move freight between Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe, India, Iran, and Russia by increasing connectivity between Mumbai, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Anzali, Baku, Astarakhan and Moscow.
Following the Iranian minister’s visit to Baku in October to take part in the tri-lateral meeting, Sadegh said that both countries reviewed the progress of joint transport and transit projects and agreed on organising goods transportation at the border via rail and road.
“Progress of the joint infrastructure projects demonstrates Baku and Tehran’s firm determination to advance their shared development objectives,” said Sadegh who is the co-chairperson of the Azerbaijan-Iran Joint Economic Cooperation Commission.
U.S. rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, performed to a crowd of 118,000 people in Istanbul on Saturday night, marking his first concert in Europe in more than a decade, despite being barred from performing in several countries over past antisemitic remarks.
Okinawa lost transport links and suffered widespread power outages on Monday (1 June) as Severe Tropical Storm Jangmi brought destructive winds and heavy rain to Japan's south-western islands.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held talks with Lebanese President and Israeli Prime Minister on efforts to ease tensions between Israel and Lebanon. According to a U.S. official, Washington has proposed a plan aimed at achieving a gradual de-escalation of hostilities.
The World Health Organisation’s designation of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is a stark reminder that Ebola remains a persistent global health threat rather than a disease of the past.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is continuing to spread, with 263 confirmed cases and 43 deaths reported as of 30 May.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, newly independent Armenia emerged with the promise of democracy. But in the years that followed conflicts and political assassinations sidetracked politics in the country, until a 2018 revolution restored momentum to the promise.
When Armenians vote on 7 June, they will be voting in an election shaped by months of political change and a rapidly deepening relationship with the European Union. The result may not only determine who governs Armenia but also the future direction of the country's geopolitical alignment.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is resuming operations on 2 June after extensive modernisation works. Officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye are set to gather in Akhalkalaki for a launch event marking the reopening of one of the Middle Corridor's most important transport links.
Kazakhstan is open to expanding its oil export routes through Azerbaijan and advancing joint energy infrastructure projects across the Caspian region, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told AnewZ in an exclusive interview in Baku.
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova praised Georgia for resisting Western pressure (30 May), defending its national interests and pursuing a "multi-vector foreign policy" - language that closely mirrors the rhetoric of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment