DUSHANBE, November 9, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Trucks loaded with commodities for Iran’s national exhibition that is expected to open in Dushanbe on November 13 have been stuck at the Uzbek-Tajik border, Mohammad Omrani, representative of the Iranian exhibition company, Soroush-e Khorasan, has told reporters at a news conference in Dushanbe.

Soroush-e Khorasan is one of organizers of the Iranian national exhibition that runs through November 17.

According to Mr. Omrani, only a half of commodities, which is some 40 tons, have proceeded via the crossing on the Uzbek-Tajik border, while trucks carrying the remaining 40 tons of commodities have been stuck at the border.  “Uzbek authorities say the delay has been caused by accumulation of a large number of vehicles at the border crossing, Sari Osiyo, while this border crossing has the capacity of only 10 loaded vehicles per day,” he noted, adding that they applied to the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe for help in solving the problem.

Omrani said Iranian authorities and entrepreneurs were considering another route to avoid delays in shipment of cargo bound for Tajikistan – through Afghanistan.  “However, there are some issues that must be solved,” Omrani said.

“Iran is currently considering the possibility of shipping Iranian commodities to Tajikistan through Afghanistan,” noted Omrani, “In this case, Iranian entrepreneurs could save funds which they have to pay for transit of their goods via territories of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, because Afghanistan does not levy fees for transit goods, and Iranian goods being realized in Tajikistan could become cheaper.”