Trilateral Meet between India, Afghanistan and Iran to Take Chabahar Agreement Further
A Trilateral meeting was recently held
between India, Afghanistan and Iran to take Chabahar agreement further.
- Discussions were held on
Trilateral Agreement on Establishment of International Transport and
Transit Corridor i.e. Chabahar Agreement which was signed in May, 2016 in
Tehran in the presence of Prime Minister of India and Presidents of Iran
and Afghanistan.
- During the meeting, it was decided
to organize a connectivity event involving all stakeholders at Chabahar
within two months to increase awareness about the new opportunities
offered by Chabahar Port.
Where is Chabahar port?
It is located on the Makran coast, Chabahar
in southeastern Iran. Its location lies in the Gulf of Oman. This coast is a
relatively underdeveloped free trade and industrial zone, especially when
compared to the sprawling port of Bandar Abbas further west. Also, it is the
only Iranian port with direct access to the ocean.
For India, Chabahar is of strategic
importance for the following reasons:
- It is the nearest port to India on
the Iranian coast, which provides access to the resources and markets of
Afghanistan and Central Asia.
- It is located 76 nautical miles
(less than 150km) west of the Pakistani port of Gwadar, being developed by
China. This makes it ideal for keeping track of Chinese or Pakistani
military activity based out of Gwadar.
- Also, Chabahar port is suitably
located to serve India’s outreach in the region to Afghanistan and beyond
as well as link with International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)
to which India is one of the initial signatories.
- The port will cut transport
costs/time for Indian goods by a third.
- From Chabahar, the existing Iranian road network can link up to Zaranj in Afghanistan, about 883 kms from the port. The Zaranj-Delaram road constructed by India in 2009 can give access to Afghanistan’s Garland Highway, setting up road access to four major cities in Afghanistan — Herat, Kandahar, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.
