India on Monday, took over an operation of a port on the southeastern coast at Chabahar in Iran, which is being jointly constructed by Afghanistan, Iran and India. Under Indian firm – Indian Ports Global Limited, the Shaheed Behesti Port would get developed at Chabahar.
Indian firm opened its office after the first meeting of the committee between India, Iran and Afghanistan for the implementation of a trilateral Chabahar agreement, a statement stated issued by the external affairs ministry.
According to news reports, the statement said: “Positive and constructive discussions were held between the three sides on full operationalization of the Trilateral Transit Agreement for international transit and transport through the Chabahar port.”
The statement further stated: “They agreed on the routes for the trade and transit corridors between the three countries.”
“It was agreed to finalise at the earliest the protocol to harmonise transit, roads, customs, and consular matters. It was agreed to allow cargo movement at Chabahar using TIR Convention provisions,” the statement further stated.
International transport of goods under cover of TIR Carnets (TIR convention) is the multilateral treaty which aimed at harmonizing and simplifying the administrative formalities of an international road transport. TIR convention stands for “Transports Internationaux Routiers”.
During a meeting held on Monday, they decided to hold another meet in regards with the potential of Chabahar, next year on February 26.
The statement said: “Also, a study would be initiated for determining measures to make the route attractive, decrease logistic costs and pave the way for smooth operationalization of the Chabahar Agreement.”
According to news reports, India will provide assistance of $500 million for the construction of Chabahar port in Iran and to link road from there to Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
The Chabahar port also considers as a key link to the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), 7,200 km long multi-model network of road routes, ship and rail to have an international motion through these between Iran, Afghanistan, India, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Europe and Central Asia.