Concurrent with PM Modi’s visit, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will also be in Tehran to sign a trilateral deal regarding Chabahar port.
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Launching of internet live-streaming and mobile Apps of Persian Service through a multimedia web platform of worldwide standard airworldservice.org/persian during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Tehran will go a long way not only in meeting the challenges from other broadcasters but also help in further broadening the listeners base of All India Radio.
Iran has comprehensive plans on the development of infrastructures, including roads, railroads and ports in Chabar region, and the country’s capacity in energy, mineral resources, as well as young and educated human resource, providing an opportunity for the other countries to invest in the country, Iran’s First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri told the meeting.
India built up a backlog of payments when the Persian Gulf nation was under Western sanctions due to its nuclear programme in 2011.
Gopal Baglay, a foreign ministry official in charge of Iranian ties, said India would make an initial investment of more than $200 million in the port, of which India’s Exim Bank would provide a credit line of $150 million.
Modi will arrive in Iran’s capital Tehran on May 22 in a bid to spruce up bilateral ties with the Islamic republic by signing major economic cooperation agreements. Chabahar could be to India what Gwadar port in Pakistan is to China.
Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on Iran’s southern coast, is of great strategic utility for India. However, it is not yet known when the second instalment will be paid, the sources added.
India is blocked from land access to Afghanistan and through it to the central Asia countries because of opposition from Pakistan, which sees India’s expansive diplomacy in the region as a threat. The Chinese project prompted faster movement on the Iranian project.
On Thursday, Iran also held a meeting in Chabahar with the participation of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) member states aimed at urging investments in Iran’s development projects in the region.
The port project will be the first overseas venture for an Indian state-owned port. India and Iran had in 2003 agreed to develop Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman outside the Strait of Hormuz, near Iran’s border with Pakistan.
As regards with energy, the Farzad B gas project would be another fruit for Delhi’s energy needs and Delhi is likely to move further ahead on this during the visit, Indian Express wrote on Thursday. Japan has already evinced interest in developing an Industrial Complex in Chabahar and there has been some talk recently of India working jointly with it.
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The Indian side has guaranteed 30,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo handling in the third year of operations and aims to handle 250,000 TEUs in the 10th year. It is relevant both in economic and strategic terms, since Iran is India’s gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia and an important bulwark of India’s Act West Policy.
