NEW DELHI (Dispatches) -
Uzbekistan will push ahead with a joint plan with India and Iran to promote connectivity through the Chabahar port, as part of the country’s efforts to improve and diversify access to sea routes for trade, senior Uzbek officials have said.
The three countries intend to hold the second meeting of a trilateral working group to discuss the joint use of Chabahar port on Iran’s Makran coast for trade and transit, Uzbekistan’s deputy foreign minister Furkat Sidikov said on the sidelines of a roundtable here on foreign policy issues. He indicated that the recent developments in Afghanistan would not have any impact on the plans of the three countries.
The first virtual meeting of the trilateral working group on the joint use of Chabahar port was held last December, and the three sides will set the date for the second meeting, he said.
Bakhtiyor Mustafayev, deputy director of the state-backed International Institute for Central Asia, said the government of landlocked Uzbekistan believes it is strategically important to diversify efforts to enhance access to the oceans.
Almost 80% of Uzbekistan’s exports and imports move through northern routes passing through Central Asian states and Russia and it would be beneficial for the country to gain access to the Persian Gulf, Mustafayev said. At the same time, the countries in South Asia are developing fast, and represent a huge market with a population of about two billion, he said.
“It would be more beneficial to try to combine South Asia and Central Asia,” Mustafayev said.
Enhanced connectivity, he said, would also “open new doors to improve the security situation and deal with terrorism and extremism” across the region.
The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in mid-August has triggered speculation about the viability of Chabahar port. India developed the Shahid Beheshti terminal of Chabahar as part of its efforts to access Afghanistan. The U.S. granted the port a special waiver from sanctions imposed on Iran in view of its strategic importance in shipping supplies to Afghanistan.