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News ID: 58879
Publish Date : 23 October 2018 - 21:45

India, Iran, Afghanistan Discuss Operation of Chabahar

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- India, Iran and Afghanistan here on Tuesday discussed a full commissioning of the Chabahar port that the three countries are jointly developing.
It was the first trilateral meeting of the Coordination Council of the Chabahar Agreement held in the Iranian capital, coming in the face of fresh sanctions imposed by Washington on the Islamic Republic.
"Detailed discussions were held between the three sides on full operationalization of the trilateral agreement for international transit and transport through Chabahar port," India’s External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
"All sides shared the view that full operationalization of trilateral Chabahar initiative will promote connectivity and economic development of Afghanistan and the region," it stated.
A decision was also taken to form a follow-up committee that would hold its first meeting within two months in Chabahar port.
"It would discuss and aim to finalize protocol to harmonize transit, roads, customs, consular matters that were shared by the Indian side at the meeting for making the route attractive, decrease logistic costs and pave the way for smooth implementation of the Trilateral Chabahar Agreement," the statement said
The port project on the southeastern coast of Iran has come under jeopardy after the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions on the West Asian nation.
India is investing $500 million to develop the Chabahar port and the road link from there to Afghanistan gives access to that country bypassing Pakistan.
Last year, New Delhi sent 1.1 million tonnes of wheat as aid to Afghanistan through Chabahar and the road link it built to connect it to that country.
The port is also a key link in the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a 7,200-km-long multi-modal network of ship, rail and road routes to move freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
In Tuesday's meeting, the Indian side was led by secretary for economic relations in the External Affairs Ministry T.S. Tirumurti, while the Iranian and Afghan sides were led by their respective deputy ministers of transport.
India is also attempting to put in place a separate corridor linking Gujarat and West Bengal to Kazakhstan and eastern Russia via Iran's Bandar Abbas.
Plans are afoot to link Gujarat's Mundra Port with Bandar Abbas and connect it to Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway network and onwards to eastern Russia.
The idea is to not only access markets of this landlocked region but also create a corridor to import natural resources from the region in a shorter period than being done currently, according to officials.
Officials from India and Kazakhstan are meeting in Delhi next week to finetune proposals for the corridor which will run parallel to the International North South Transport Corridor and the Chabahar corridor.
While Gujarat is geographically closer to Bandar Abbas, the goal of the proposed corridor is to connect eastern India with Eurasia.
The proposal for the new corridor comes as Moscow is launching talks with Delhi for the creation of a corridor connecting Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Oman and India.
The resource-rich and growing economies of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are also seeking access to oceans and the nearest gateway for the purpose is via Iran.