India, Iran, Afghan sign trade corridor pact

Mangalore Today/ NDTV

Tehran, May 23:  ’History is being created,’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Tehran today after the signing of a tripartite agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan to turn the Chabahar port into a transit hub bypassing Pakistan.

 

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Earlier, India and Iran signed deal to develop the Chabahar port. PM Modi said India will open a $500-million line of credit to develop the port into a regional trading hub.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also flew in to Tehran on Monday for the signing of the tripartite trade and transit corridor agreement.

"Chabahar can become very big symbol of cooperation between Iran and India," Iran President Hassan Rouhani said. PM Modi said: "India and Iran are not new friends. Our dosti is as old as history."

This is the first foreign port in which India is involved to this extent. The port in the Gulf of Oman on Iran’s southern coast with Afghanistan will allow India to bypass Pakistan to transport goods to Afghanistan and central Asia using a sea-land route.

Pakistan does not allow India to send goods through its territory to Afghanistan and has only recently begun to allow a trickle of Afghan exports to cross through to India.

Besides developing the port, India will also help build a 500-km railway line between Chabahar and Zahedan.
India’s move is also being seen as a balance to China’s influence in Pakistan. India wants to develop the port as a counter to Pakistan’s Gwadar port, which was built with Chinese assistance and is 72 km from Chabahar.

PM Modi’s visit -- the first by a Indian Prime Minister in 15 years -- comes four months after the sanctions on Iran were lifted and the international community is re-engaging with the nation.