Trade along the North-South corridor is off to a strong start in 2024, a boon for the Kremlin. The route got a big boost from a jump in Russian trade turnover with Iran.

During the first quarter of this year, trade turnover between Russia and Irangrew by 48 percent over the same period in 2023, a year in which overall commerce between the two countries lagged. While trade increased between Russia and Iran, it decreased by 6 percent year-on-year between Russia and Azerbaijan during the first four months of 2024.

Meanwhile, turnover between Russia and India – the countries at each end of the network of road, rail and sea links – set a new quarterly value record during the first three months of this year, totaling about $17.5 billion, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported. In late 2023, Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyan Jaishankar credited the North-South corridor with spurring growth in bilateral trade. “This project is in line with our interests,” he said. “It is one of our top priorities.”

In early June, Russian leader Vladimir Putin touted the North-South trade network as a more efficient international trade conduit than the Suez Canal.

Intent on maintaining momentum for growth, Putin on June 12 approved an agreement on free trade between members of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and Iran. Beyond laying the groundwork for new infrastructure and improved logistics, the TASS news service reported that the pact can save Russian exporters up to $300 million in export-duty and other costs.

On June 16, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran announced the creation of a working group for improving logistics arrangements along the North-South route, TASS also reported.

“[Putin] has identified an increase in the volume of traffic along international transport corridors as priority development goals for the Russian Federation for the period until 2030 and 2036,” Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in early June.

Eurasianet