Turkmenistan and Iran have agreed to develop a joint action plan aimed at expanding railway cooperation and increasing annual freight transit volumes to 20 million tons, including 6 million tons by rail, Tehran Times reported Monday.

The agreement was reached during working meetings held from Sept. 6 to 8, as part of a visit by a Turkmen delegation led by Minister of Railway Transport Mammet Akmammedov. Talks were held with Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Farzaneh Sadegh, and Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, Jabbar Ali Zakeri.

The sides discussed the development of key railway routes, including the China–Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran corridor, as well as the Ashgabat Agreement corridor connecting Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Oman. Both parties expressed readiness to deepen cooperation to boost trade among member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization and to make more effective use of the Armenia–Iran–Turkmenistan–Kazakhstan transit route.

As part of the visit, the Turkmen delegation toured the Wagon Control Center and the Aprin Dry Port in Tehran, and inspected the development of the Akyayla–Incheh Borun railway crossing.

Earlier, the head of the Khorasan Railway Administration announced that construction of the Sarakhs railway terminal in Iran, located on the border with Turkmenistan, is nearing completion.