Afghanistan sends first consignment of dried fruit to China via Chabahar

According to Director General of Sistan and Baluchestan Ports and Maritime Organization, Behrouz Aghaei, Chabahar port authorities have taken the step to facilitate trade between the two countries despite the coronavirus pandemic.
He said Chabahar port has been established to facilitate regular container transportation services to Asian countries for Afghanistan.
According to him, Afghanistan’s first shipment of dried fruit was sent to Tianjin Port in China via India’s port of Mundra.
He also said three consignments of Afghan goods were sent to India from Chabahar in the past month. This comes after a 2016 agreement between Iran, India, and Afghanistan to jointly establish a trade route for land-locked Afghanistan through Chabahar.
In the past week, consignments of wheat for Afghanistan have also been sent from India via Chabahar Port.
This, however, comes after a week of speculation about Iran having apparently decided to proceed with a railway line project from Chabahar to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, alone, and not with India’s assistance.
Iranian media has stated Tehran decided to go ahead with construction on its own,  citing funding delays by India as the reason.
But India has refuted these claims and said it remains “committed” to financing and building the railway line.
According to India’s Economic Times, senior officials at the Indian embassy in Tehran said India is “committed to building the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line and is continuously engaged with Iranian authorities concerned to take this important project forward.”