North - South project not requiring 'second wind' — Lavrov

The North - South transport corridor project does not require the second breath and it will be implemented in the near time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

"As regards the North - South corridor, it does not probably need a ‘second wind,’ - it has already received it. This project caused great enthusiasm among countries, on which its implementation depends, and it will be definitely realized in the near time," Lavrov said.

"Certainly, confidence in the West has been strongly undermined and there are even greater grounds at present to rely on the role of the global majority in developing the world’s economy not to the prejudice of somebody but on the basis of mutual benefit," the minister added.

Russia, India and Iran signed an intergovernmental agreement on creation of the North - south multimodal transport corridor in 2000. The number of participants expanded to fourteen later. The project goal is to bring transit freight traffic from India, Iran and Persian Gulf countries via the Russian territory to Europe. The project brings together several different transport systems of individual countries at present.