Quadrilateral working group on Chabahar port to meet this year

A meeting of the India-Uzbekistan-Iran-Afghanistan quadrilateral working group on the joint use of Chabahar port is expected to be held later this year as part of New Delhi’s efforts to ramp up regional connectivity initiatives

A meeting of the India-Uzbekistan-Iran-Afghanistan quadrilateral working group on the joint use of Chabahar port is expected to be held later this year as part of New Delhi’s efforts to ramp up regional connectivity initiatives.

Chabahar port. (File photo)

India formed a special company in 2018 to operate one of the terminals of Iran’s Chabahar port to improve connectivity to both Afghanistan and the Central Asian states. However, the operations of the port and efforts to acquire heavy equipment for the development of the facility have been impeded by American sanctions on Iran, even though the US has given a waiver for Chabahar.

“India has proposed to include the port in the framework of the International North-South Transport Corridor and has welcomed the formation of the India-Uzbekistan-Iran-Afghanistan quadrilateral working group on the joint use of Chabahar port. The meeting is likely to take place in the later half of this year,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a weekly news briefing.

Since December 2018, when India began operations at Shahid Beheshti terminal at Chabahar port, the facility has handled 134 vessels, 14,258 TEUs of containers and more than 2.08 million tonnes of bulk and general cargo.

The cargo included humanitarian supplies such as wheat sent by India to Afghanistan during the Covid-19 pandemic.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar had highlighted the practical steps taken by India since 2016 to operationalise Chabahar port at a meeting on regional connectivity hosted in Tashkent by the Uzbekistan government on July 16.

In his speech at the event, Jaishankar said Chabahar port provides secure, viable and unhindered access to the sea for Central Asian countries. “Its efficacy is now clearly proven,” he added.

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