The inauguration of the first phase of Chabahar Port by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday has opened up a new strategic transit route between Iran, India and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
The inauguration of the first phase of Chabahar Port by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday has opened up a new strategic transit route between Iran, India and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
Indian ports on the west coast such as Mumbai, JNPT, Mundra and Kandla can have a direct and easy access to the Iranian port.
Named after Shahid Beheshti, the prime architect of Iran's post-revolution constitution, the port in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, will help flow of goods from India, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asian states in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access. The port provides convenient access to the start of the Indian-built Zaranj-Delaram highway, which intersects the Afghanistan ring road.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Iranian counterpart Javed Zarif had on Saturday held a meeting in Tehran and discussed the port project and other issues.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan represented India at the inauguration. "The routes of the region should be connected on land, sea and air," Rouhani said. Under the agreement signed between India and Iran last year, India is committed to equipping and operating two berths in the Chabahar Port Phase-I with a capital investment of USD 85.21 million and an annual revenue expenditure of USD 22.95 million on a 10-year lease.
The minister also reviewed the progress of the port with Iranian Transport Minister Dr Abbas Akhoundi and Afghanistan Trade and Commerce Minister Humayoon Rasaw. India had recently transported 110000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan through the Chabahar Port. The Trilateral Transit and Trade Agreement between the three countries is awaiting ratification by the Majlis of Iran for its full operationalisation.
In a joint statement issued at the end of tri-lateral ministerial meeting between Afghanistan, India and Iran on the implementation of Chabahar agreement, it was decided to organise a connectivity event to increase awareness about the new opportunities offered by the port.
It was agreed that an integrated development of connectivity infrastructure including ports, roads and rail network would open up greater opportunities for regional market access and contribute towards the economic integration of the region.
The port is 466 km north to Zahedan, wh ich is a node on the Iranian rail network, connecting to Turkmenistan and eventually to Kazakhstan's Caspian seacoast. Experts here believe the project once fully realised will also be a riposte to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Pakistan's Gwadar port. It will also position India as a player in the connectivity projects by momentum to the International North-South Transport Corridor. It entails the ship, rail, and road routes for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku and Astrakhan.
Lack of connectivity has pushed Indian trade to Central Asian states to a trickle as compared to China, whose manufacturing hubs are at much greater distances. Kazakhstan capital Almaty is just 1,609 km away from Delhi as compared to 4,023 km from China's eastern manufacturing hubs. But Beijing's exports to the region are somewhere around $20 billion, compared to India accounting $950 million in 2016. Prime Minister Modi during his landmark trip to Iran in May envisaged a land route to Europe via Chabahar. He said the project "could bring down the cost and time of the cargo trade to Europe by about 50 %." The port was partially built by India in the 1990s. An initial pact to build the Chabahar port was first inked during the Vajpayee government in 2003, but the deal slipped through during subsequent years due to US sanctions on Tehran.
There are still challenges ahead. With the US administration under Donald Trump once again on collision course with Iran, the possibility of the project once again slipping through are again there. Also, even though it is hoped that increased trade will help improve Afghanistan's security situation, the goods offloaded in Chabahar will have to reach Kabul or Herat through Taliban control zones. In coming days, providing security to trucks will test acumen of both India and Afghanistan.
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