Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan agree to ease pandemic-linked curbs on borders
Transportation authorities from Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have agreed to adopt joint measures that could ease movement across the borders as they seek to restore trade exchanges hampered by the new coronavirus pandemic.
Iran’s transportation minister Mohammad Eslami said the agreement was reached earlier on Tuesday in his video-conference meeting with counterparts from the two Central Asian countries.
“We agreed in the meeting to have joint protocols for controlling coronavirus in order to resume exchanges between the three countries,” said Eslami, according remarks covered by the IRIB News.
Among the measures agreed on Tuesday was setting up disinfection facilities for trains and trucks crossing the border between Iran and Turkmenistan.
Eslami said that a series of 20-meter-long tunnels will be set up within the next 10 days on the border between the two neighbors to allow trade to resume after nearly two months of border closure.
He said Iran and Turkmenistan signed a memorandum of understanding to share transportation data through electronic means. The minister said Uzbekistan was also invited to join the mechanism to further ease the transit of goods from Iran to Uzbekistan via Turkmenistan.
Eslami said Uzbekistan also agreed to clear border restrictions for a group of Iranian trucks that have been stuck in the country because of the closure of the crossings into Turkmenistan.
He said the agreements reached on Tuesday came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke with his Turkmen and Uzbek counterparts last week to help easing of border controls and restore trade between the three states.
He said two similar meetings are due to be held between foreign ministers of Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as heads of trade committees of the three countries to further coordinate on measures to resume trade exchanges now that the pandemic appears to be slowing down.
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