Where is Chabahar?
The port Chabahar is
located in southeastern Iran in the Gulf of Oman. It is the only Iranian port
and direct access to the ocean.
Importance
No other international port
has seen the level of involvment and enthusiasm for Chabahar
as India. The port made a way for India to bypass Pakistan in transporting
goods to Afghanistan using a sea -land route. At present Pakistan does
not allow India to tansport through its territory to Afghanistan. It has however
allowed some Afghan shipments to come to India. Iran played the key gateway in
this project. It entails the ship rail and road route for moving freight from
India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central asia . The objectives of the corridor
is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai ,
Moscow, Tehran etc.
First Shipment- In November 2018
India flagged off a shipment of wheat
for Afghanistan through Iran's Chabahar port for the transhipment of goods from
India to the landlocked country in November 2017. The development was seen as
significant one as it minimized Pakistan's veto over trade between india and
afghanistan .
This moved aimed at
circumscribing India's role in Afganistan. It comes almost 15 years after
India and Iran first agreed to develop the Chabahar port to ease connectivity
bottleneck for new Delhi in reaching out to landlocked central aisia and
Afghanistan . The wheat shipment is a landmark moment as it will pave the ay
for operationilization of the chabahar port as an alternate , relaible and
robust connectivity for Afghanistan. It opens up new opportunities for
trade and transit from and to afghanistan and embrace trade.
It facilitates India’s role in Afghanistan’s development through
infrastructure and education projects. And it gives India’s bilateral ties with
Iran, a major oil supplier and potential trade market for India, a big fillip. India
has helped develop the Shahid Beheshti port with these outcomes in mind, and
has been given the contract to manage it for 18 months in December 2018.
