On Thursday, India commemorated the 'Chabahar Day' with ministerial presence from six nations at the Maritime India Summit organized by India's shipping ministry. 

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Speaking at the event, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that Iran's Chabahar port has, in a short while, established its credibility and relevance handling shipments and transhipments from countries like Russia, Brazil, Thailand, Germany, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.

He also pointed out that there was a huge infrastructure deficit in the region, which needed to be met to fulfil the growing aspirations of the people.

In his speech, Indian shipping minister Mansukh Mandaviya noted that the average monthly port calls at Chabahar had increased and efforts were on to increase linkages between Chabahar not only to South but Southeast Asia also.

In his speech, Iran's Minister for Roads, Mohammad Eslami sought increased Lines of Credit from India to complete the first phase of the port which he said could handle 8.5 million tonnes of cargo. 

Details of Chabahar port 

The Chabahar port was first proposed in 2003.

India and Iran signed an agreement in 2018 to develop the Chabahar Port.

Chabahar is the only Iranian port with direct access to the Indian Ocean.

The port is situated on Iran's Makran coast, in Sistan-Balochistan province.

It was considered a safe, secure and reliable route to trade initially with Afghanistan and thereafter with Central Asia.

Chabahar port is seen as a strategic counter to Pakistan's Gwadar port that has been developed by China.

The development of the port has been delayed due to tensions between the US and Iran.

India is currently using the port to ship wheat to Afghanistan as well as pesticides.

New Delhi has been trying for years to boost its trade with Central Asia.

Chabahar is seen as the gateway to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia.