Ashgabat Agreement

Ashgabat agreement
Ashgabat agreement
Major junctions
Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan end	Mumbai
Iran end	Eurasia region

The Ashgabat agreement (Hindi: अश्गाबात समझौता), is a Multimodal transport agreement signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.^[1]

Objective

The objective of this agreement is to enhance connectivity within Eurasian region and synchronize it with other transport corridors within that region including the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

Connectivity

North–South Transport Corridor

For enhanced connectivity, the Ashgabat agreement will also synchronize with the International North–South Transport Corridor encompassing ship, rail including Trans-Caspian railway, and road route for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road.^[2]

Eurasian Railway Connectivity

This agreement will also leverage the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) rail line from 2013, Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey transportation corridor in 2014, Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railroad and TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) comprising the EU and 14 Eastern European, South Caucasus and Central Asian states.

Hajigak–Chabahar railway

India is finalising a plan to construct a 900-km railway line that will connect Chabahar port in Iran, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak region of Afghanistan.^[3]^[4]