New Delhi: Even as the pivotal Chabahar port in Iran will be inaugurated by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday made a stopover at Tehran on her way back from Russia and met her Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif to discuss further cooperation on the port project.
Significantly, the United States too had recently said it had no objection to the trilateral project involving India, Iran and Afghanistan.
India is looking at “operationalisation of the Chabahar port as an alternate, reliable and robust connectivity for Afghanistan” which will slash Afghan dependence on Pakistan for access to the sea.
It will ensure the sea-land connectivity initiative through Iran between New Delhi and Kabul.
Pakistan has been an obstacle to the direct Indo-Afghan trade route that passes through Pakistani territory. The Chabahar port will also be a competitor—-in handling maritime trade— to the Gwadar port in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province which has seen massive Chinese investment as part of the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
