Iran-Azerbaijan's Astara Customs Office to work 24/7

EghtesadOnline: Astara Customs Office in northern Iran will start full time working soon coincident with a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan Republic, by Iran’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Masoud Karbasian, it was reported on Friday.

News ID: ۷۸۰۱۶۰

29 October 2017

The Astara Customs Office locates in the northern border city of Astra in Gilan Province which lies on the border with Azerbaijan Republic and on the Caspian Sea, according to IRNA.

The decision on the office working for 24 hours straight resulted from a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last year by Karbasian, who was the then president of Iran's Customs Organization and his Azeri counterpart during a visit to Iran by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, said Mohammad Shahbazi, who is in charge of Supervisio Department in Gilan Province Customs Office.

'The measures for implementing the MoU were discussed in a recent meeting between Iran and Azerbaian's senior Customs officials in Astara, and it was agreed that the MoU will be implemented as soon as possible,' Shahbazi said.

With the requirements for round-the-clock operation of Astara's Customs Office having been met, a new chapter on economic cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan will be opened soon, he said.

The official said that Azerbaijan's Customs has also declared its preparedness for a full time operation at the border, and is cooperating on implementing the plan.

Meanwhile according to a local official at Astara Customs Office, some 162,000 tons of non-oil goods, worth 88 million dollars, have been exported through the Office to Azerbaijan during the past seven months of the Iranian calendar year (March 21- October 22, 2017).