India, Afghanistan and Iran hold their first trilateral meeting on Chabahar port project

India, Afghanistan and Iran has recently hold their first trilateral meeting on Chabahar port project in Tehran during which they reviewed its implementation. The Indian delegation was led by TS Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations). The Afghan and Iran delegations were led by respective deputy ministers of Transport. The meeting assumes significance as the strategically-located port on the energy-rich Iran’s southern coast was coming under the ambit of US sanctions on Tehran. In it, it is decided to constitute a follow-up committee that would hold its first meeting within two months in Chabahar port. The committee would discuss and aim to finalise protocol to harmonise transit, roads, customs and consular matters for making the route attractive and decrease logistic costs. In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan had signed a pact which entailed establishment of a transit and transport corridor among the three countries using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs. Chabahar is located less than 100 nautical miles from the Chinese built port of Gwadar in Pakistan.