At the conference on "Commercial-economic and humanitarian cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Astrakhan region: current situation and prospects" held in Astrakhan, Russia, on May 8, Javid Gurbanov, the Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan, stated that last year, 3.5 million tons of cargo were transported in the "North-South" and "North-West" directions. However, most of it fell to the share of the "North-West" corridor.

The official said Azerbaijan pays special attention to developing the "North-South" transport corridor. According to him, Azerbaijan has already completed all work related to the implementation of this project.

Notably, the "North-South" International Transport Corridor connects Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. Forecasts show that if it operates at full capacity, the "North-South" international transport corridor will enable the access of European countries, Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus regions to the Persian Gulf and India and the intensification of trade relations with the Black Sea ports of the Caspian countries. This corridor will also carry out rail and road transport between Europe-South Asia-Middle East.