Speaking in a ceremony held to celebrate the arrival of first consignment of Indian commodities to Afghanistan via the Chabahar Port, Mohammad Reza Bahrami rejected the idea that the Iranian port of Chabahar is a rival to the Pakistani port of Gwadar.
“Chabahar is not a threat to anyone,” he said, calling for cooperation by all regional countries to prepare the ground for the development of the region.
Highlighting the port’s berthing, loading and unloading capacity, he said its capacity has now reached 8.5 million tons.
The envoy also pointed to Chabahar’s proximity to Afghanistan and Central Asian countries and called for improvement of the regions’ transit infrastructure.
Chabahar is the closest and best access point of Iran to the Indian Ocean and Iran has devised serious plans to turn it into a transit hub for immediate access to markets in the northern part of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.
The Chabahar Agreement is a regional transport network initiative of the governments of Afghanistan, India, and Iran.
It aims to create a reliable transport corridor for the smooth transport and transit of goods and services through Chabahar Port between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of India, and Islamic Republic of Iran.
The agreement was signed by the three countries’ high ranking officials in Tehran in May 2016.