KABUL (SW): The Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah on Monday left for Tehran to hold talks with Iranian officials over developments surrounding the Chabahar port and other subjects of mutual interest.
Mujib Rahimi, Spokesman for the CEO told Salam Watandar that countering with security threats in the regions and developing relations between Afghan and Iranian businessmen would also be on the agenda for talks.
A day earlier, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said that Afghanistan aims to establish dry ports along with Iran. President Ghani emphasized that the ground for relations between Afghan and Indian businessmen should be paved through Chabahar port in Iran.
According to Rahimi, on this trip, the Chief Executive Officer would also visit Chabahar port in addition to meeting Iranian high-ranking officials.
Chabahar port, which is located in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan in the southeast of Iran, has significant economic importance for Afghanistan, Iran and India.
Afghanistan considers Chabahar port as an alternative to Karachi and Waga ports in Pakistan.
Afghan businessmen have always been faced with problems at those ports where Pakistan impose restrictions under different excuses on the imports and exports goods of the Afghan businessmen.
The discussion over Chabahar port have started since 2012 and RECCA VI conference in Kabul provided a good opportunity for the Afghan, Indian and Iranian’s officials to agree upon it and finalize the agreement for the port. Iran has set aside nearly 50 hectares of lands for Afghan businessmen at Chabahar port.
Rahimi further said that the cultural ties between Afghanistan and Iran would also be one of the agendas to be discussed in this trip.
The Iranian government has signed a MoU with the Government of India to develop the Chabahar port. India will get direct access to Afghanistan through sea route after the completion of the project. The development will be done by floating a Special Purpose Vehicle which is aimed at investing $85 million for the development of the same.
In Sept 2015, India announced development of Urea production plant and Iran's infrastructure.
Indian minister of transport pledged to invest around $1 billion for the development.
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