Armenia has proposed providing India with a trade corridor through the Black Sea to make moving goods to Russia and Europe faster.
The proposal was reportedly made during the visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to India on March 3-4.
Connecting Mumbai and Varna
According to media reports, the proposed trade route is supposed run parallel to the International North—South transport corridor, connecting Mumbai, India with Europe via Iran and Armenia, while at the same time bypassing Azerbaijan.
India in talks with Armenia and Iran for a new trade route to Russia & Europe: reports
© Photo : social media
What's more, such a corridor would create an additional route bypassing the Suez Canal in order to avoid confrontation between Russia and the West.
"As the new Cold War undermines the economic and political relations between Russia and the West, any large-scale transit of goods passing through the border of Russia and Europe looks too risky for international logistics and insurance companies."
Project for New Persian Gulf
Back in 2016, Iran put forward a project for a new Persian Gulf — Black Sea international transport corridor, which was supposed to connect Iran with Europe and Russia through the South Caucasus.
Negotiations were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, but all potential project participants, including Iran, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, showed interest in the project.
The Persian Gulf—Black Sea corridor fits well into India's plans as it looks for additional routes to reach Europe.
International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a project to build a multimodal route for the transportation of passengers and cargo; the total length from St. Petersburg to the port of Mumbai is 7,200 km. After the completion of the project, the route will allow for the transit of cargo from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries to Russia (via the Caspian Sea) and further on, to Northern and Western Europe. The estimated capacity of the corridor is 30 million tons of cargo per year.
In December, the media wrote that after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Russia and Iran actively engaged in the construction of a transcontinental trade route. According to the agency, Moscow intends to establish a year-round water connection between the Azov and Caspian Seas by expanding existing shipping channels, and Tehran is expanding the railway network to the Iranian port of Chabahar on the coast of the Gulf of Oman.