The event is organized jointly by the Federation of Freight Forwarders of India and the sports club ‘Kalinga Motor’, said Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, reported Trend News Agency.

Iranian entities organizing the race are the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Road Facilities, the Federation of Motorcycles and Vehicles and the Customs Board of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The 30-day rally will cover the route from extending from Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran, Qazvin, Rasht to Astara port on Iranian territory and onward to Moscow and St. Petersburg and back again to finish in Chabahar.

Twenty trucks are participating in the competitions, one from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan, while the rest will belong to the Indian teams. Around 39 participants are taking part in the competition.

The North-South transport corridor is designed to connect Northern Europe with India and Southeast Asia. The route will also link the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

In the initial stage, six million tons of cargo are planned to be transported through the corridor per year and the figure will eventually rise to 15-20 million tons.

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The final day of the competition yielded 14 gold medals for Iranians taking the overall tally to 39 golds.

On Sunday, the Iran men’s youth volleyball team registered an emphatic win by seeing off the Azerbaijani squad 3-0, with the set scores of 25-16, 29-27 and 25-18 in the title match played at the Crystal Hall 1in Baku.

The Iranian pair of Shahnam Nazarpour and Mojtaba Valipour also clinched a gold medal in the final heat of men’s 10m synchronized platform, having tallied 326.04 points.

They were followed by Artem Danilov and Dmitriy Sorokin from Azerbaijan, who earned 265.11 pts. The Iraqi divers Hussein al-Elayawi and Hussein al-Maliki landed in the third place with 215.64 pts.

Meanwhile, Iran’s zurkhaneh practitioner Ali Jalijoo received the gold medal in charkhe teez competitions. His Iraqi and Azerbaijani opponents finished second and third respectively.

In the meel bazi division of zurkhaneh, Pejman Sokoonati topped the podium. The Azerbaijani athlete picked up the silver medal, and Afghan competitor took the bronze.

Mohsen Golestanizadeh from Iran stole the show in the kabbadeh contests, and clinched the gold medal. Iraqi and Azerbaijani representatives claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.

In the charkhi chamani, Ali Jalijoo finished in the first spot. Azerbaijani contestant and the athlete from Afghanistan claimed the second and third places.

Mostafa Mofid added another gold medal to Iran’s medal tally at the games with his impressive performances in meel sangin contests. Iraqi and Azerbaijani contesters claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Iranian Mobin Zibalagha managed to win a silver medal in the sang competitions. Rufat Gulaliyev from Azerbaijan snatched the gold medal and Tajikistani athlete got the bronze.

Elsewhere in table tennis, Iranian team comprised Neda Shahsavari, Mahshid Ashtari, Maryam Samet and Saba Safari claimed a prestigious gold medal in women’s team contest overcoming the host team by a 3-1 score line in the final. Turkey grabbed the bronze.

Also in table tennis Iranian men’s team (Noushad and Nima Alamian, Afshin Norouzi and Amin Ahmadian) defeated Turkey in men’s team final game 3-1 to grab the gold medal. Azerbaijan finished third.

Iranian athletes took the center stage in wushu competitions as they clinched six gold medals. Moein Hajizadeh overcame his Turkish opponent in the men’s 52kg final to claim the gold medal.

Mahdi Mohammadi grabbed the men’s 56kg gold medal overcoming his Azerbaijani contender in the final contest. Iranian 60kg contester Erfan Ahangarian beat Tunisian Athlete in the final to take the gold medal.

Also in wushu games, Foroud Zafari grabbed the gold medal after beating host’s representative in men’s 65kg final. Saied Fazeli was also a gold medalist in wushu, overcoming his opponent from Azerbaijan in men’s 70kg final contest. Last gold medal of wushu competitions went to Iranian 75kg representative Yazdan Mirzaei as he beat the Egyptian contender in the battle for gold.

4th edition of Islamic Solidarity Games finished on Monday May 22 with the closing ceremony held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Iranian athletes finished the competitions with 39 golds, 26 silver and 33 bronze to take the third place in overall medals table of the games.

Host country Azerbaijan and Turkey finished first and second respectively.

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The incumbent Iranian administration has sought to facilitate the activities of merchants from the two countries, Vaezi told the Iran-Azerbaijan Business Forum in the northwestern Iranian city of Orumieh on Thursday evening, reported Tasnim News Agency.

He noted that once the train service becomes operational in the early months of the Iranian year which starts on March 21, the two sides will witness greater use of rail transport system to boost bilateral trade.

The railroad, he pointed out, will not only have a positive impact on Tehran-Baku relations but also on ties among Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

At a meeting in Baku in July 2016, officials from Iran, Russia, and Azerbaijan exchanged views on the cost of building the crucial rail link to connect Iran’s northern city of Rasht with Azerbaijan’s Astara.

The three sides also studied the possibility of Russia financing the project.

The budget for completion of Rasht-Astara railroad project is estimated at $1.1 billion, a part of which will be supplied from the $500-million loan from Azerbaijani banks.

The project is part of the North-South Corridor.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a multipurpose route permitting the transit of goods between Iran, Russia, Europe, India and Central Asia via shipping lines, railroad and land routes.

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Mohsen Pourseyyed Aghaei expressed hope that the project which connects railways of Iran and Azerbaijan Republic will be implemented by the end of the current Iranian calendar year saying “upon completion, the railroad will transfer goods and commodities from Iran to Moscow and the Black Sea.”

The official, while noting that the joint bridge project for the railroad is in final stages of completion, added “both Iranian and Azerbaijani sides have accomplished a great portion of the construction phase.”

Accordingly, goods from all over the country will be carried to Astara station where they will be loaded to be transferred to the Russian capital of Moscow as well as to the Black Sea, Pourseyyed Aghaei continued to say.

Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CSC Javid Gurbanov, for his part, stated “Azerbaijan has fulfilled its share and construction has reached the joint bridge situated on the border.”

“Under the terms of an agreement between both countries’ presidents, the construction work of the joint railway project will be finished in the current year,” stressed Gurbanov.

Baku and Tehran have decided to accelerate the construction of the Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line, which would connect the railway networks of both countries.

Both countries have agreed to finance the construction of the railway line and connector as part of the North-South international transport corridor.

The length of the proposed railway is 10 kilometers. Some 8 kilometers will pass through Azerbaijani soil and two kilometers through Iranian territory.

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Due to the importance of the area in having a rich flora (about 1000 taxa) and fauna specially presence of rare species such as Lyurus mlokosiewiczi in 1971 was conserved and UNESCO was listed it as a wildlife refuge since 1976.

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The art of Ashiqs combines poetry, storytelling, dance and vocal and instrumental music into a traditional performance art that stands as a symbol of Azeri culture. Characterized by the accompaniment of the ”saz,” a stringed musical instrument, the classical repertoire includes 200 songs, 150 literary-musical compositions known as ”dastans,” nearly 2,000 poems in different traditional poetic forms and numerous stories.

The regional variations may include other musical instruments, but all are united by a common national language and artistic history.

Ashiqs take part in weddings, friendly parties and festive events throughout the Caucasus and appear on concert stages, radio and television, sometimes synthesizing classical melodies with contemporary ones as they continue to recreate their repertoire.

Their art is considered an emblem of identity,  literature and music. Even as Ashiqs represent the consciousness of a people, they also help to promote cultural exchange and dialogue: Kurds, Lezhins, Talishes, Tats and other ethnic groups living in the country often perform the Ashiqs’ art, and their poems and songs have spread across the region.

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Arasbaran, northwestern Iran, is a mountainous region. Its brilliant history and magnificent natural landscapes are great for ecotourism. Since 1976, UNESCO has registered 72,460 hectares of the region as biosphere reserve. Iranian nomads spend hot days of summer in Arasbaran.

ARASBARAN in UNESCO
This biosphere reserve situated in the north of Iran at the border to Armenia and Azerbaijan belongs to the Caucasus Iranian Highlands. In-between the Caspian, Caucasus and Mediterranean region, the area covers mountains up to 2,200 meters, high alpine meadows, semi-arid steppes, rangelands and forests, rivers and springs.
Arasbaran is the territory of about 23,500 nomads who are mainly living in the buffer and transition zones (2000). Economic activities in the biosphere reserve are mainly agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, apiculture, handicrafts and tourism, but business activities can also be found in urbanized areas. (more)
Photo: Masoumeh Fariborzi

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