First Shipment of Afghan Goods via Chabahar to China Sent by Iran-India

Iran and India have shipped the first-ever shipment of transit goods to China via Chabahar Port. It comes on the backdrop of the US sanctions on Iran and the balance that Iran is trying to maintain between the rival of the USA, China and its ally, India.

The shipment of dried fruit was sent from Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar to the Indian port of Mundra, where it was unloaded and then loaded on another ship for its final destination, Tianjin Port in China. This is going to create history since Chabahar Port is facilitating trade between Central Asian countries and Afghanistan with the countries of South and Southeast Asia and the Far East by establishing regular container transportation services.

In the last few months, Afghanistan sent three transit consignments to India via the same port.

Background

Chabahar Port is an important gateway to Central Asia since it connects Iran with several other countries. It is important for India because India can send consignments to Afghanistan using this port, without going through Pakistan. That is why; India has already invested $500 million in the development of this port.

Chabahar consists of two separate ports – Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths. India is going to build two new berths under its terms of agreement with Iran. India has managed 8200 containers from Chabahar since December 2018. The government has also increased the total allocation towards the development of this port.

India has already received an exemption from the US Government for the development of this port in Iran.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2020