Iran, India Upbeat with Chabahar Port Inauguration. Iran’s access to the long coasts of the Persian Gulf, the Oman Sea, the Makran Sea, the Caspian Sea coast has attracted great attention from the major economic producers of the world in recent years, as exemplified by the North-South International Corridor Agreement signed in St. Petersburg by the transport ministers of the three countries of Iran, India and Russia.
The North-South Corridor is the most important trade route between Asia and Europe, which is 40% shorter in terms of distance and time and 40% cheaper in terms of cost.
Meanwhile, the Gulf of Oman and the Chabahar port on the eastern shore of the Makran Sea as a strategic port of call to this corridor will play an important role in exchanging goods to the east of the country and the eastern and central Asian neighbors.
India’s First Shipment of Goods To Enter Afghanistan via Chabahar Port
Makran is a coastal area in the southeastern part of Iran and southwest of Pakistan that extends across the Gulf of Oman; these are the golden gulfs of the country to the open seas and the key to taking advantage of this exceptional opportunity is its development.
In the general policies of the Sixth Development Plan of the country, special attention has been paid to the development of the Makran coastlines, and all the organizations and ministries of the country are required to cooperate to this end in the Sixth Development Plan of the country.
Afghan President Ghani Refuses to join CPEC, without Access to India
On the coasts of Makran, the port of Chabahar has a very good capacity for development; this port is considered the only oceanic port of the country, and access to the port has led to the release of water from the countries of Central Asia, India, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and European countries. They would also like to use this port to cross their goods.
Chabahar Port: Game Changer for India
With the opening of the first phase of this port on December 12, the port capacity was 2.5 million tons per year to 8.5 million tons. The Chabahar-Iranshahr-Zahedan line is 610 km long, followed by Mashhad and Sarakhs. By implementing this project, the Chabahar port connects to the country’s rail network, and it is possible to connect the railways of the eastern corridor to the Sarakhs border and to access Central Asian countries to free waters through Iran’s soil.
US, India, Japan, Australia Join Hands to Counter China?
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani recently inaugurated a $1 billion extension of its southeastern Chabahar port which Tehran believes will benefit the country to become an important transit route to land-locked Afghanistan and Central Asia. India has partnered with Iran in Chabahar port development project where Indian envisages to bypass Pakistan and reach Afghanistan and Central Asian nations.
