Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Tehran: Today (Monday, May 13) in a ceremony attended by Mehrdad Bazarpash, Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and Sarbananda Sonwal, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways of India, the contract for equipping and operating container terminals was signed. And the general goods of Shahid Beheshti Chabahar port of Iran were signed by IPGL India.
Mehrdad Bazarpash, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development, emphasized at the signing ceremony that "Iran is a land of transit opportunities and the applicant countries are trying to use this capacity".
Bazerpash said: Iran is a safe and cheaper land for the transit of goods to all over Asia and different parts of the world, and Chabahar port can be considered as a focal point for the development of transit in the region.
The Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran expressed hope that the importance of Chabahar port will increase with the operation of the railway line from Chabahar to Zahedan and Sarkhes.
Sarbananda Sonwal, the Minister of Transport of the Republic of India, also emphasized the long-standing relations between Iran and India and expressed hope that the trust and depth of cooperation between the two sides can provide the economic interests of Iran and India.
He said: Operation of Shahid Beheshti port can increase the export of Indian products to countries like Afghanistan.
Sonwal emphasized: India has tried to speed up and facilitate the transit route between Iran and India by equipping Chabahar port.
The Minister of Roads of India said: Today is a very big day and Chabahar port will be equipped as one of the axes of export development in the region.
Meanwhile, Nasser Kanani, the spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, also said in his weekly meeting with reporters about the signing of this memorandum: the cooperation between Iran and India for the development of Chabahar port is going through a good implementation process within the framework of the agreement between the two countries.
This senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that the development of Chabahar port and the promotion of this port as a transit center for the commercial interests of countries interested in using the capacities of this port are among our priorities, and stated: India is interested in using the commercial capacities of this port. It is a port, and as I said, the commercial capacities of this port serve the countries that are interested in using Iran's capacities in this field.
Kanani said: We have good news in this regard, which we will inform you about in the near future.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran also answered another question regarding how much guarantee there is that the Indians will adhere to the provisions of the agreement in the new agreement adopted between Iran and India due to the US sanctions. In fact, the unilateral sanctions of the US hinder Shouldn't this agreement be implemented by India? He said: Experience has shown that countries willing to ignore America's sanctions against independent countries within the framework of common interests cooperate with these countries, including Iran, in commercial, economic and... and the agreement between Iran and India on the development of Chabahar port has been made with India's understanding of the nature of illegal US sanctions and this issue is not limited to India.
Kanani continued: The expansion of our cooperation with different countries in the world shows that despite the restrictions it creates on the path of constructive cooperation, the US sanctions are not a deterrent for countries that maintain their political independence and follow the path of cooperation with Iran.
He clarified: India is one of our trading partners, which is trying and following up on the expansion of cooperation with Iran in the framework of common interests, regardless of these unilateral sanctions.
It has been said that one of the major goals of concluding this agreement, which was achieved as a result of the expert and specialized negotiations of the joint working group of Iran and India, is the cooperation of the efforts of these two countries in operationalizing the goals of the international agreement on transportation in the North-South corridor, the tripartite transit agreement of Iran, India and Afghanistan centering on Chabahar port and the development of multimodal transit and transportation cooperation between Iran and India in the Central Asia region are within the framework of the strategic cooperation goals of India and Central Asia.
Also, strengthening and facilitating the transit cooperation between India and Afghanistan through Iran, developing the eastern axis and Makran coasts of Iran, developing regional cooperation between Iran, India and Russia for joint investments in the completion of regional transport and transit infrastructure are among the other goals of this agreement.
According to this contract, the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran provides a part of the general goods and container terminals of Shahid Beheshti Chabahar Port for 10 years to the Indian side.
According to Isna, on the basis of the contract signed between these two countries, India has invested 120 million dollars in the supply of strategic equipment for the port, as well as more than 250 million dollars in the transportation infrastructure of this port, in order to equip and develop Iran's Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar. will provide financing.
According to experts, Iran's Chabahar Dam is a safe route for exporting and importing goods to Afghanistan. Because in recent years, the Pakistani government has repeatedly used the port of Karachi as a lever of high pressure in Afghanistan.
This is despite the fact that during the recent visit of Mullah Baradar, the Economic Deputy Prime Minister to the Islamic Republic of Iran, understandings were reached between the two countries regarding Afghanistan's use of Chabahar Port.