The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal visited Chabahar on August 20. Mr. Sonowal reviewed the progress in the work on the terminal and handed over six mobile harbour cranes “to improve efficiency”.
- In a bid to aid the movement of seafarers between the two countries, India and Iran on August 22 signed a memorandum of understanding on recognition of Certificates of Competency in Unlimited Voyages to help seafarers from both countries as per the provisions of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978.
- In an effort to invigorate the potential of Chabahar port, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal also handed over Six mobile harbour cranes to Indian Ports Global Chabahar Free Trade Zone (IPGCFTZ) at the port .
- The inauguration of the SIX mobile harbour cranes would act as a force multiplier for the operation of the Shahid Behesti Port and further fuel impetus to the development of the Chabahar port. The strategic role of Chabahar port to unlock trade potential in the regional trade between Central Asia, South Asia & South East Asia is huge.
Chabahar/Shahid Beheshti port
- The first agreement for Chabahar was signed by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003.
- Then the plan had a three-fold objective: to build India’s first offshore port and to project Indian infrastructure prowess in the Gulf; to circumvent trade through Pakistan, given the tense ties with India’s neighbour and build a long term, sustainable sea trade route; and to find an alternative land route to Afghanistan, which India had rebuilt ties with after the defeat of the Taliban in 2001.
- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government constructed the Zaranj -Delaram Highway in Afghanistan’s South, which would help connect the trade route from the border of Iran to the main trade routes to Herat and Kabul, handing it over to the Karzai government in 2009.
- In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Iran and signed the agreement to develop Chabahar port, as well as the trilateral agreement for trade through Chabahar with Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani.
- Since the India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ) authority took over the operations of the port in 2018, it has handled 215 vessels, 16,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and four million tons of bulk and general cargo.
- In the last few years, a fourth strategic objective for the Chabahar route has appeared, with China’s Belt and Road Initiative making inroads in the region. The government hopes to provide Central Asia with an alternate route to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through Iran for future trade.
- Mr. Sonowal said that it is India’s vision to make the Shahid Beheshti port a “a transit hub” and link it to the International North South Trade Corridor (INSTC), that also connects to Russia and Europe.
- With western sanctions against Iran increased, the Chabahar project has been put on the back-burner.
- In 2018, the U.S. Trump administration put paid to India’s plans by walking out of the JCPOA and slapping new sanctions on dealing with Iran.
- This led to the government “zeroing out” all its oil imports from Iran, earlier a major supplier to India, causing a strain in ties.
- Despite the fact that the U.S. made a special “carve-out” on sanctions for Chabahar, on the ground, it has been difficult to source equipment for the port construction from infrastructure companies that continue to fear secondary sanctions, as well as to engage shipping and insurance companies for trade through Chabahar.
- The Government of India also snapped ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, which put an end to the humanitarian aid of wheat and pulses that was being sent to Kabul via Chabahar.
