In India, Rs17,300 crore ($2.41 billion) have been allocated for the Ministry of External Affairs in the budget, with Rs100 crore ($13.98 million) earmarked for the strategic Chabahar Port project in southeastern Iran, which gives India connectivity to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tThe total aid to countries has decreased by Rs56 crore ($7.83 million) \nfrom Rs6,963 ($973.85 million) in the revised estimates of 2019-20 to \nRs6,907 crore ($966 million) in the 2020-21 budget, Indian digital \nnewspaper ThePrint reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tThe aid for the strategically-important Chabahar Port, which was zero \nin the revised estimates of 2019-20, has gone up to Rs100 crore for the \nnext fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tThe port complex, backed by India, on Iran\u2019s coast along the Sea of \nOman is being developed to provide an alternative trade route between \nIndia and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tIn May 2016, India and Iran signed a bilateral agreement under which \nIndia would refurbish one of the berths at Shahid Beheshti Terminal and \nreconstruct a 600-meter-long container handling facility there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tHowever, only a portion of the two berths has been completed because of\n deteriorating relations between the US and Iran after the election of \nUS President Donald Trump in November 2016, which culminated with the \nreimpositon of economic sanctions in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tIn December last year, India took over operations of part of Shahid Beheshti Port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tThe first phase of Shahid Beheshti Port development project was \ninaugurated in December 2017 by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, \nopening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India and Afghanistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tChabahar is Iran\u2019s only oceanic port town and consists of two separate \nterminals: Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti. The opening of first \nphase, namely Shahid Beheshti terminal (out of five phases defined for \nthe project), which has tripled its capacity to 8.5 million tons (equal \nto that of all the northern ports of the country), allows the docking of\n super-large container ships (between 100,000 DWT and 120,000 DWT) and \nincrease India\u2019s connectivity with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tIran and India need to work together to expedite rail connectivity to \nAfghanistan and procure equipment for the development of Chabahar Port, \nIran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in Mumbai last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tDespite the US exemption of India from sanctions imposed on Iran for \nthe development of the port in November 2018, the European and Chinese \nsuppliers, who had bagged contracts to supply equipment for the port, \nhave been reluctant to deliver, fearing an adverse impact on their \nbusiness with the US, Press Trust of India reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t“Chabahar Port is essential for Afghanistan and Central Asia. There are\n several problems and we made several advances on them. One of them is \nthat our parliament has recently approved the expansion of the free \nzone,” Zarif said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tThe Iranian minister noted that the problem in the project\u2019s progress \nis that India has found difficulty in procuring equipment for the port \ndespite the exemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t“The other issue is connecting Chabahar to Afghanistan and to Central \nAsia through rail. We need to complete the Chabahar-Zahedan rail \nnetwork. We have the infrastructure for that, but we need rails. We are \nin negotiation with India for providing rails. We produce our own rails \nbut not at the scale we need. So, Iran and India need to work together \non procurement of equipment for the port as well as finishing the rail \nlink,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t“The most important priority for Iran is to have good relations with \nneighbors, stability in neighborhood and attract more investments in the\n country. We want to take a leading role in peace building.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tAccording to Behrouz Aqaei, director general of Ports and Maritime \nOrganization of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, the current Iranian year \n(ending March 19, 2020) saw a 100% rise in exports from Afghanistan via \nIran\u2019s Chabahar to other countries, the Ministry of Roads and Urban \nDevelopment reported on its website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In India, Rs17,300 crore ($2.41 billion) have been allocated for the Ministry of External Affairs in the budget, with Rs100 crore ($13.98 million) earmarked for the strategic Chabahar Port project in southeastern Iran, which gives India connectivity to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. The total aid to countries has decreased by Rs56 crore ($7.83 million) from Rs6,963 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,8,7],"tags":[797,1014,639],"yoast_head":"\n