BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. Chabahar port of Sistan and Baluchistan province, located in southeastern Iran, is of great importance in the International North-South Corridor, Indian Minister of Ports, Seas, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said, Trend reports.
He made the remark during the event organized in Tehran in connection with the signing of an agreement on the development of Chabahar Port.
According to him, under the joint will of India and Iran, Chabahar Port will become one of the major communication centers in the region. This center can improve India's connectivity with Central Asian countries and Afghanistan.
The official added that India will put its best efforts into developing Chabahar port so that this port will promote ties between the two countries.
“As part of past agreements between India and Iran, a long-term agreement between the two countries will be signed, which is an indicator of trust between the two countries and a mark of the development of cooperation,” he noted.
To note, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash and India's Minister of Ports, Maritime Affairs, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal will sign an agreement to provide Chabahar Port with equipment and port infrastructure.
Under the contract, India's IPGL will equip Chabahar Port with equipment.
The agreement stipulates that the Indian side will spend $120 million on the supply of equipment to the Chabahar port and $250 million on the construction of the port infrastructure.
The intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000, laid the foundation for the North-South transport corridor. In general, several countries have ratified the mentioned agreement (the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Bulgaria, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Türkiye, and Ukraine). The purpose of the corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo traveling from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western Europe (the delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks, it is expected to be 3 weeks via the North-South).
The North-South Corridor has three directions in Iran. The eastern direction is Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries, the middle direction is Russia and other countries across the Caspian Sea, and the western direction is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern European countries.
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