AMN / KOLKATA
INDIA’S External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the Chabahar port would benefit the entire region and a narrow view should not be taken of it.
Speaking at a programme in Kolkata last night, he said that in the past, even the US has been appreciative of the fact that the Chabahar port has a larger relevance. India on Monday signed a 10-year contract to operate the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar that will help New Delhi expand trade with Central Asia.
The US has warned that any country having business dealings with Iran runs the potential risk of sanctions. Located in Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran’s southern coast, the Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman will provide Indian goods a gateway to reach landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia using a road and rail project called International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). India and Iran have projected the port as a key hub for the 7,200-km-long INSTC — a multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.