Crisis in the Middle East will not change mood for North-South Corridor start

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Russia is convinced that the aggravation of the situation in the Middle East will not change the attitude of partners to the launch of the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC), Official Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said.

"The North-South Corridor is designed to connect the north of Eurasia with major logistics hubs on the coast of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and we are convinced that the current aggravation of the situation in the Middle East, although it will complicate the implementation of a number of tasks, will not change the mood of our partners for the full launch of the corridor," she said.

Russia "pays attention to building a new continental transport and logistics infrastructure, accelerated modernization of existing and development of promising international transport corridors in line with the implementation of the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the formation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership," the diplomat said "We proceed from the fact that smoothly operating international supply chains are the key to the stable and progressive development of the global economy," she stressed. "Unlike Western structures, we are taking steps to remove barriers to the liberalization of trade relations and, in this context, we are ready to work constructively with all interested partners to combine efforts in the interests of strengthening Eurasian transport connectivity," Zakharova added.