BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. Iran expects India to increase investment in Chabahar port in Sistan and Baluchistan Province located in the southeast of the country, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash said, Trend reports.
He made the remark during the joint press conference with Indian Minister of Ports, Maritime Affairs, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal after signing an agreement on the development of the Chabahar Port between Iran and India in Tehran.
He estimates that the agreement between Iran and India signed today will be worth $370 million.
Bazrpash added that Chabahar port is located in the North-South International Corridor and creates exits in different directions.
“Iran and India are working to improve the potential of maritime routes. By organizing discussions, the establishment of a joint shipping company is envisaged. This can seriously help promote trade in the different ports of the two countries,” he said.
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 provide equipment to Chabahar Port.
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.
On September 12, 2000, Russia, Iran, and India signed an intergovernmental agreement that 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 corridor aims to shorten the cargo delivery time from India to Russia and Northern and Western Europe, which currently takes more than 6 weeks on the current route, to just 3 weeks via the North-South corridor.
In Iran, the North-South Corridor has three directions. 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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