Belarus is counting on advancing co-operation with Iran to tap into the route’s growing potential, said Sergey Rachkov, chairman of the Standing Commission on International Affairs in the lower house of parliament.
"Our countries are focused on economic and trade ties,” he told reporters ahead of talks with Iran’s ambassador, Alireza Sanei. “Iran is of particular interest to us in terms of industrial co-operation, agriculture, as well as science and technology."
Rachkov added that Iran also holds strategic importance for Belarus as a logistics hub for exports. He pointed to the INSTC, a project that has gained momentum in recent years, as a key avenue for expanding trade flows.
"We hope that once the situation in the Middle East stabilises, the project will be completed and Belarus will be able to take advantage of it to increase supplies of its goods via Iran—primarily to countries in the Arab world, as well as to Africa and Asia," he said.
The INSTC is a 7,200-kilometre multimodal route linking Saint Petersburg with the port of Mumbai. It comprises three main routes: a Trans-Caspian corridor using rail and port infrastructure, alongside western and eastern overland routes.