Iran approves membership of Turkey ..

A report released by the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Transportation and Terminals Organization quoting him said that the official application of Turkey and Ukraine for membership in the north-south corridor was submitted to Iran. "The membership of the two applicants were examined and approved by the cabinet," he added.

Turning to the decisive role of the two countries, given they are bordering the Black Sea, he noted that as a significant neighboring country and member of east-south corridor, Turkey has wide trade exchanges with Iran.

"Given Turkey is located in Europe and its inland, railway and marine routes, it is a pivotal hub of trade exchange between the Asian and European continents and plays a decisive role in distributing goods across the region. "As the second largest European country after the Russian Federation, Ukraine with a population of 48 million plays a significant role in exchange of goods between Europe and the regional states," he added.

Atrchian noted that four of the ten European corridors passing through Ukraine, including the north-south, account for the country’s added importance.

Atrchian, who is also head of the north-south corridor secretariat underlined, "The membership of Ukraine and Turkey in the agreement on north-south corridor brings the number of official member states to nine including Iran, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Oman, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Turkey.

Meanwhile, the membership of four other countries in the agreement, including Bulgaria, Azarbaijan, Armenia and Syria, is still under consideration.