Chabahar India’s golden gate to Central Asia

December 04, 2017 - With the inauguration of the first phase of the Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar in southeastern Iran, India has opened its doors to the landlocked countries of Central Asia.

Chabahar Port is a collaboration between India, Afghanistan and Iran to continue trading through Central Asia and finding an alternative to entering the landlocked Central Asian countries, businessworld.in reported.

Through the joint collaboration, the first tranche of 110,000 tons of wheat has already reached Afghanistan through Chabahar Port about a month ago.

As per reports from the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs), at present ministers from all the three countries i.e. India, Afghanistan, and Iran have agreed to further intensify cooperation on better connectivity and development of Chabahar Port and a meeting of senior officials for the discussions is expected soon.

As per the agreement signed between India and Iran in May 2016, India will equip and operate two berths in Chabahar Port in its first phase with an investment of $85.21 million and an annual revenue expenditure of $22.95 million for a 10 year lease.

 India’s strategic interests in Chabahar

 Chabahar Port is geographically located in a very convenient position for India, which is in Southeast Iran at the Gulf of Oman and serves as Iran’s only Oceanic Port in the Indian Ocean. It consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantri and Shahid Beheshti (inaugurated yesterday) each of which having five berths. 

India, Iran and Afghanistan have signed MoUs that have committed almost $21 billion to Chabahar-Hajigak Corridor.

With the humongous investment, a full-fledged operation of the port is likely to ramp up trade between India, Iran and Afghanistan and give it a strong entry into the Central Asian markets.

 “Afghanistan used to rely only on one transit road, which was through Karachi. That is not the case anymore. Now it is through Chabahar,” said Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

Just one day before the historic inauguration, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj made a surprise stopover at Iran on her way back from Russia and met with her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said during the meeting, Swaraj and Zarif discussed various aspects of relations between India and Iran as well as ways to strengthen ties besides exchanging views on regional and global developments of mutual interest.

It is speculated that the port will still take a year to be fully functional and benefit the trio as per the plan.

 China hope

On Monday, China hoped that the launch of the strategic Chabahar Port in southeastern Iran which enables India to directly trade with Afghanistan besides rivalling Pakistan's Gwadar port is conducive to regional peace and stability.

The first phase of the Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman coast was inaugurated on Sunday by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, opening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India and reflecting growing convergence of interests among the three countries, The Economic Times reported.

The port in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan Province on the energy-rich nation's southern coast is easily accessible from India's western coast.

Asked how China views the launch of the project, considering that China is investing heavily in Pakistan's Gwadar port as part of the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, declined to comment on it directly.

Commenting on the inauguration of the first phase of Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said, "I want to give you a principled answer. We welcome the development of friendly relations between the regional countries and conduct mutually beneficial cooperation."

"We hope the relevant cooperation can be conducive to maintaining regional peace and promoting regional stability and prosperity," he said.

The Chabahar port is being considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with Central Asian countries besides ramping up trade among the three countries.

Source: http://www.iran-daily.com/content/imgcache/file/216683/0/image_650_365.jpg