ITC North - South. Russia - East: logistics, import-export

Organizers-partners: Caspian International Integration Club “North-South” Venue: the city of Kazan, IEC KAZAN EXPO

Moderator: Alevtina Grigoryevna Kirillova, General Director of Eurasian Agrologistics, ANO, Doctor of Engineering, Professor

Speakers:

Abdulatipov Ramazan Gadzhimuradovich, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OIC;

Yousef Hassan Halavi, Secretary General of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, ICCIA;

Murev Dmitry Iovchovich, General Director of Russian Railways Logistics, AO;

Levitin Igor Evgenyevich, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation;

Baiseidov Seyitguly, Deputy Chairman of the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Head of the Turkmenbashi International Seaport;

Mirsayapov Ruslan Zagitovich, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Azerbaijan;

Severilov Andrey Vladimirovich, Chairman of the Board of Directors, FESCO Transport Company;

Mohammad Reza Modarres Khiabani, Director General of Shipping Lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran;

Atul Upadhyay, Representative of the Board of Directors, the company Multiville;

Dzvonkovsky Aleksander Nikolaevich, Head of the Directorate for Business Development, Sklady, AO, “Pochta Rossii”;

Markelov Konstantin Alekseevich, President of Astrakhan State University;

Daushev Artem Adgamovich, Assistant to the Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance.

The most important factor determining the economic development of states in modern conditions is the provision of efficient logistics for import and export of cargo. The sky of Western countries was closed for Russian aircrafts as a result of Western sanctions, global sea carriers left the Russian market, and the largest courier companies stopped operating. The sanctions mode has given a new impetus to the development of the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC). An important role in the development of the project is played by the Caspian International Integration Club “North-South”, which is an international professional industry- based platform for discussing integration trade, logistics and investment projects within the ITC North-South. The main mission of the Club is to unite the resources of government and business of the member states of the international project, as well as partner countries in dialogue, mutual information and analysis of the preparation of investment agreements.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OIC, Chairman of the Caspian International Integration Club “North-South”, emphasized the important role played by the Club in the development of the ITC North-South project. The transport corridor, which is 7.2 thousand km long, is two times shorter than the traditional route through the Suez Canal. Cargo goes through 10-15 days faster, the cost of transportation is 30-40% cheaper. He expressed satisfaction with the fact that the leadership of Russia, India, Iran, China, the Middle East, and Central Asia began to understand the need for the active development of this route.

Yousef Hassan Halavi, Secretary General of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA) emphasized the importance of the ITC North-South project, which will make life easier for billions of people and help save huge amounts of money.

Dmitry Murev, General Director of RZD Logistics, AO, noted that the total volume of Russian Railways traffic along this corridor in 2022 increased by 21.6% and amounted to 8.9 million tons. The volume of container traffic tripled and amounted to 22.3 thousand TEUs. The western route of the corridor is the busiest. In 2022, regular transportation of full-length container trains was launched along the eastern route of the transport corridor. Constant work is underway to modernize the infrastructure.

To ensure the seamless cargo transportation, it is necessary to continue technological integration: introduction of a unified through railway rate and through schedule, introduction of railways communication with regulatory authorities’ technique, introduction of green corridors.

Igor Levitin, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, noted that the signing of an agreement on cooperation for the construction of the ITC North-South between Russia and Iran opens up great opportunities for further development of the transport corridor. An important task now is to provide conditions for the unhindered work of cargo carriers. One of the steps could be the introduction of a single transport document, an electronic seal and uniform phytosanitary requirements. It is also necessary to introduce a unified transit rate throughout the route.

Baiseyidov Seyitguly, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Head of the Turkmenbashi International Seaport, noted that the transport infrastructure is actively developing in the country; in 2018 a new port was built with the annual cargo turnover of 15 million tons. After Turkmenistan decided to join the Agreement on the International Transport Corridor North-South for cargo transfer through the port in this direction, tariffs were reduced by 50%.

Ruslan Mirsayapov, the Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Azerbaijan, emphasized the importance of the project for the development of the ITC North - South and made a proposal to open a representative office of the Coordination club in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Andrey Severilov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the FESCO Transportation Company, emphasized the importance of forming a fleet in the Indian Ocean to ensure the sea leg of the corridor. FESCO is interested in purchasing a container terminal on the Caspian Sea. Kazan, where the transport group is planning to build a multimodal logistics complex, can also become one of the possible logistics hubs for consolidating cargo destined for Iran.

Mohammad Reza Modarres Khiabani, Director General of Shipping Lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, noted that Iran ranks 16^th in terms of container traffic in the world. He identified the main challenges associated with the project for the development of the ITC North-South in Iran: traffic restrictions due to the formal procedures; large amount of funding required; insufficient depth of the Caspian Sea for the passage of ships; delays of ships due to the work of ports; lengthy customs procedures; the need to reduce port charges.

Atul Upadhyay, the representative of the Board of Directors of the Multiville Company, noted that his company will ensure the supply of Indian goods to Russia via the North-South Transport Corridor, and with this in mind a logistics center will be established in India. The company's investment projects were presented, including the construction of a spare parts plant in Kazan, as well as the possibility of organizing production for the construction of sea vessels in Russia.

Alexander Dzvonkovsky, Head of the Sklady Business Development Directorate of “Pochta Rossii”, said that in addition to mail delivery, the company is developing as a logistics company. A new type of service was launched - fulfillment of goods from a bonded warehouse. In April 2023, the first bonded warehouse was opened in Kazan.

Artem Daushev, Assistant Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, emphasized the need to integrate information systems and introduce new technologies to guarantee security in international trade and the implementation of the “Agroexpress” project.

Konstantin Alekseevich Markelov, President of Astrakhan State University, noted that the University is implementing a project to develop a digital platform for the North-South ITC for application in the logistics processes of the transport corridor. Also, the University implements educational programs in the transport and logistics profile. The President put forward several proposals, in particular: to strengthen inter-university cooperation in this area, increase admission in logistics areas of training, introduce a specialist’s degree program in training of logistics personnel, and others.