Tehran, Iran, June 1
Trend:
Iran seeks to increase the role of Qeshm Island in trade with neighbors by improving the connection to India and Pakistan and turn the island into a trade magnet.
"Considering the country's situation with sanctions, Qeshm Free Area Organization has good capacity in fulfilling the needs of industrial, trade and production sectors in the region that can play a role in confronting sanctions," said the CEO of Qeshm Free Area Organization Hamidreza Momeni, Trend reports citing FreeNA.
"Establishing a sea corridor between Qeshm and India started by negotiations and the first trade ship from Kandla Port in India arrived at Kaveh Port in Qeshm in May 23. The corridor was officially launched by the arrival of the ship with 12,500 tons of goods. We plan to increase the capacity in the future," he added.
"Qeshm Island has good connection with various countries in terms of cooperation in sea transportation development," he added.
"It has been approved, according to the latest negotiations, that at least one ship would go through this route, at the moment the sea route is active only one-side, and ships from India transfer goods from India to Qeshm, but we seek to create a route from Qeshm to other ports," he noted.
"This effort is an important attempt in maritime trade and considering the connection with India it would be a good route. Recently Pakistan has expressed readiness to establish a maritime trade route with Qeshm, hopefully we would witness the launch of a trade route between Pakistan and Qeshm," the official indicated.
"There were negotiations with Chinese officials over belt and road initiative project via Qeshm Island. The primary introductions have been completed and the basic protocol has been signed by two sides. Next week, the Chinese delegation will arrive in the Qeshm Free Zone," he said.
