BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. Chabahar port of
Sistan and Baluchistan province, located in southeastern Iran, is
of great importance in the International North-South Corridor,
Indian Minister of Ports, Seas, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal
said, Trend
reports.
He made the remark during the event organized in Tehran in
connection with the signing of an agreement on the development of
Chabahar Port.
According to him, under the joint will of India and Iran,
Chabahar Port will become one of the major communication centers in
the region. This center can improve India’s connectivity with
Central Asian countries and Afghanistan.
The official added that India will put its best efforts into
developing Chabahar port so that this port will promote ties
between the two countries.
“As part of past agreements between India and Iran, a long-term
agreement between the two countries will be signed, which is an
indicator of trust between the two countries and a mark of the
development of cooperation,” he noted.
To note, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad
Bazrpash and India’s Minister of Ports, Maritime Affairs, and
Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal will sign an agreement to provide
Chabahar Port with equipment and port infrastructure.
Under the contract, India’s IPGL will equip Chabahar Port with
equipment.
The agreement stipulates that the Indian side will spend $120
million on the supply of equipment to the Chabahar port and $250
million on the construction of the port infrastructure.
The intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and
India on September 12, 2000, laid the foundation for the
North-South transport corridor. In general, several countries have
ratified the mentioned agreement (the Republic of Azerbaijan, the
Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Bulgaria, India, the Islamic
Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of
Kyrgyzstan, the Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, the
Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Türkiye, and Ukraine). The
purpose of the corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo
traveling from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western
Europe (the delivery time on the current route is more than 6
weeks, it is expected to be 3 weeks via the North-South).
The North-South Corridor has three directions in Iran. The
eastern direction is Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries, the
middle direction is Russia and other countries across the Caspian
Sea, and the western direction is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and
Eastern European countries.
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