Indian PM: Chabahar Pact important milestone; to connect Afghanistan and Central Asia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the contract to operate Iran’s strategic Chabahar port an important milestone. He stated that New Delhi will work to connect Afghanistan and Central Asia to promote trade and commerce. Recently, India and Iran signed a 10-year agreement to operate the Chabahar port. In an interview with an Indian media outlet, […]

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the contract to operate Iran’s strategic Chabahar port an important milestone. He stated that New Delhi will work to connect Afghanistan and Central Asia to promote trade and commerce.

Recently, India and Iran signed a 10-year agreement to operate the Chabahar port.

In an interview with an Indian media outlet, Modi called signing the 10-year agreement with Iran to operate the Chabahar port a significant step and stated that Delhi will work to connect Afghanistan and the Central Asian region.

“The recent signing of the long-term agreement for the development of Chabahar Port is an important milestone,” he said.

The Hindustan Times on Monday, May 20, quoted Narendra Modi as saying, “India will work to ensure that our efforts promote regional connectivity, trade and commerce, including to and from the landlocked Afghanistan and the Central Asia region. This is also embedded in our vision to promote connectivity, including through the International North-South Transport Corridor and the India-Middle East –Europe Economic Corridor.”

Last Monday, Delhi and Tehran signed a 10-year bilateral agreement allowing India to export its commercial goods to Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. This agreement will connect India to the North-South International Transport Corridor road and rail network.

The expansion of the Chabahar port is one of the trilateral projects among Iran, India, and Afghanistan. The agreement was signed in 2016 by Narendra Modi, Hassan Rouhani, and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Tehran. One key goal of the agreement was to connect Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries to international waters, particularly India, through Iran.

Following this agreement, an Indian company took on the port’s operational responsibility. During this period, a significant portion of India’s humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has been conducted through this route.

In recent years, with the instability in trade and transit relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Chabahar port has become one of the options for Afghanistan and India to bypass Pakistan. Due to Pakistan’s stringent measures on Afghan traders, some merchants have prioritized using the Chabahar port over the Karachi port.

Last year, India used the Chabahar Port to send 20,000 tons of wheat aid to Afghanistan. In 2021, it was used to supply eco-friendly pesticides to Iran.

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