TEHRAN, Iran, Sept. 22
Trend:
The head of Chabahar Free Zone has discussed the effect of the Taliban rising to power on Chabahar's current and future projects in an interview with Trend.
"Another point is that although the trilateral agreement signed between Iran, India, and Afghanistan but India is an investor in Chabahar port and does not only think about Afghanistan because trade volume of India with Afghanistan is not comparable to its trade with Russia and Central Asian countries," Abdolrahim Kordi noted.
The official mentioned India has long term outlook toward trade with Central Asian countries saying India seeks to strengthen ties with Russia and has no route other than Chabahar port for this purpose, therefore only one of India's economic targets in Chabahar development was Afghanistan but it was not significant compared to other India's trade partners especially Russia.
From India's point of view, this project cannot be stopped, although the country's interest has been called into question by the new situation in Afghanistan, India's view from the beginning has not been solely about Afghanistan.
"In past two years that Indians were active in Chabahar, only a few shipments of donated wheat have been sent to Afghanistan. Perhaps India had series of long-term plans for Afghanistan's development however the development of Chabahar port was mostly for India's presence in regional markets and relations with Russia, Central Asia, and Iran," he recalled.
India's total investment in Chabahar was $85 million and this figure is not significant enough that possible halting would harm the port's development. So far $1 billion domestic investment has been invested in Chabahar port.
The official indicated that India only has a contract for the operation of the first phase in Shahid Beheshti Port in return for purchase and installation of equipment, and even if India stops its investment, it does not have a considerable effect on the development of Chabahar port.