Modi, Rouhani to discuss Chabahar Port

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will on Saturday discuss ways to speed up the process for India to take over the operations of Chabahar Port of the West Asian country.

Modi and Rouhani will focus on India's connectivity through Iran to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.

Rouhani on Thursday landed in Hyderabad to commence his maiden visit to India as the President of Iran. He will reach New Delhi on Friday. He will meet President Ram Nath Kovind apart from holding parleys with Modi on Saturday.

Modi and Rouhani will not only discuss India's participation in the development of Chabahar Port of Iran, but also review progress in he International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), sources in New Delhi told DH.

Rouhani is on his maiden tour to India just weeks after Shipping and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari hosted Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi in New Delhi and discussed ways to clear the hurdles in implementing the bilateral deal on Chabahar Port.

India is now set to take over the operations of the first phase of the Chabahar Port from Iran.

New Delhi and Tehran are now in touch with each other for early handover of the operations of the port.

The bilateral contract between India Ports Global Private Limited and Arya Banader of Iran was inked during the prime minister's visit to Tehran on May 23 in 2016. The contract envisaged development and operation of two terminals and five berths of the Chabahar Port with cargo handling capacities for 10 years with a capital investment of $85.21 million and an annual revenue expenditure of $22.95 million.

Iran's Chabahar port located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on the south-eastern coast is a port of great strategic utility for India. It lies outside the Persian Gulf and is accessed from India's western coast.

The Chabahar Port will give India a sea-land access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan, which has been playing spoilsport to initiatives for connectivity between South Asia and Central Asia. India, Afghanistan and Iran also finalised a trilateral transport and transit deal, which would allow Indian exporters utilise the Chabahar Port of Iran and access markets in Afghanistan through Zahedan in the West Asian country.

New Delhi already agreed to provide provision and operationalization of credit of $ 150 million from the EXIM Bank for development of Chabahar Port.