Iran and Azerbaijan sign a customs cooperation memorandum focused on easing transit and clearing border bottlenecks

The heads of the Iranian and Azerbaijani customs administrations met at the Bilasuvar zero point border on Friday 31 July 2026 and signed a memorandum of understanding on expanding customs cooperation. The meeting brought together Foroud Asgari, deputy economy minister and head of Iran's Customs Administration, and Shahin Bagirov, head of the State Revenue Committee customs body of Azerbaijan.

Asgari described infrastructure problems as one of the main obstacles to expanding trade and transit between the two countries, saying that the completion of bridges under construction by Azerbaijan at the exit borders linked to Astara and Nakhchivan would strengthen infrastructure and ease truck movement. He identified border congestion and barriers to smooth truck traffic as the main obstacle to trade growth.

Bagirov emphasised the Azerbaijani side's interest in expanding cooperation and welcomed the establishment of a 24 hour online channel with the head of Iran's customs administration to resolve obstacles immediately. The Astara route is Iran's link into the North South corridor, so any easing there feeds directly into the cost and time of goods transit.