The “Iran-Rah” initiative was presented for the first time at the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum by the Honorable Minister of Roads and Urban Development. As a content consultant, the think tank for strategic policies of economy and management has played a strategic role in explaining the various aspects of the Iran-Rah initiative. Since Iran, due to its strategic geographical location, including access to the Caspian Sea, international open waters, and being located in the center of gravity of the world’s energy, is full of geopolitical and geoeconomic opportunities and advantages, this initiative presents great opportunities for the countries of the world. In other words, “Iran-Rah” can be considered as a window of opportunity for the beneficiary countries and all players in the field of trade, logistics and transit to use Iran’s land-water territory as a land of logistics and transit opportunities.
The word “RAH” in Farsi means both way and solution; Therefore, “Iran-Rah” means that Iran is both a way and a solution for safe, secure, easy, fast and cost-effective connections in order to create constructive competition and the participation of regional and international stakeholders in the field of transit and Logistics will play a role. Iran can be a bridge between east and west, and north and south of the world due to its wide area and a wide network of railway and road routes in addition to numerous ports.
From a historical point of view, the land of Iran has not only played a key role in trade for centuries as an intercontinental passage, but it has also been a window for multilateral interactions between world civilizations. In addition, the spirit of peace, cooperation and mutual benefits based on joint efforts between various ethnic groups, religions and nations has flowed during the glorious era of this land on historical routes such as the Silk Road and the “Shahi Road” that passed through the territory of Iran. The ancient historical remains from those ages, such as barracks and caravanserais, also confirm the historical role of the land of Iran in connecting historical civilizations.
The eight basic principles governing the “Iran-Rah” initiative, which is in deep connection with the concepts related to the North-South Corridor and in line with multilateralism and the cooperation of countries, are:
1- Multilateralism: moving towards regional economic convergence in the field of corridors and neutralizing the effect of unilateral sanctions.
2- Seeking participation: providing for the needs and common interests of stakeholders
3- Based on the transit neighborhood approach: creating transit and logistics opportunities for neighboring and non-neighboring countries through strengthening transit links.
4- Having a network approach: Synergy of all the infrastructure and transit and logistics facilities of the beneficiaries in order to release the potential capacities of the transit partners.
5- Facilitator: paying attention to the intertwining of transit, logistics, trade and finance-banking affairs and harmonizing procedures and laws in these areas
6- Based on historical memory: a reminder of historical relations between countries throughout history
7- Smart and technological: strengthening the flow of knowledge transfer, experiences and logistics and transit technology with an emphasis on smart and digital technologies.
8- Flexible and resilient: maintaining the efficiency and quality of infrastructure and transportation and logistics services in various conditions.
