The route will enable Russia to further boost its trade with India. Ilham Aliyev said the corridor will play an exceptional role in interstate relations as well as for joint efforts in leveraging regional transport corridors and routes. The passage via Azerbaijan is said to be the original route among the three of INSTC routes for Indo-Russian trade. “I must say that both the railway and automobile segments of the North-South corridor have been fully implemented and are successfully operating on the territory of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said. “At the moment, we are actively modernising the railway segment of this corridor to increase its throughput capacity. We are considering the possibility of transporting up to 15 million tonnes of cargo per year, with the potential to increase this to 30 million tonnes.” Meanwhile, Uzbekistan has sent its first cargo to India via INSTC recently. Azerbaijan will also be boosting its railway capacity on the INSTC route. About $120 million have been allocated for rail infrastructure development along the corridor in Azerbaijan.
