The Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with a number of foreign ministers of ECO countries and the governor of Khorasan Razavi, on the sidelines of the 28th ECO Ministerial Meeting said: “The plan of activating East-West Corridor through Maku Free Zone in cooperation with ECO countries is a fundamental step in the country’s economic growth.”
Abbas Araghchi, while attending the signing ceremony of the transit cooperation memorandum between Maku Free Zone and the Sarakhs Special Economic Zone, added: “The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) has a unique position in the development of east-west and north-south transit corridors due to its location in East Asia and Europe, and Iran, as one of its founders, is at the center of these efforts.”
Hossein Garousi also said: The exceptional position of Maku Free Zone in the transportation and transit of goods through its connection to the markets of Europe and Central Asia (from the north to the Republic of Turkey, from the east to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), its proximity to Armenia and the Caucasus region, and the corridor of the North-South (a competitor to the Suez Canal on land), and the connection point between Asia and Europe, has created a huge potential for this region to play a role in the development of the national and local economy.
It is noteworthy that ECO has the necessary infrastructural and legal capacities to develop its role in international corridors. In the meantime, Iran, due to its territorial location in connecting East to West and North to South, is of great importance in this regard, which can be very helpful in achieving ECO’s transit goals. One of the important corridors in this framework is the Chabahar-Maku route.
