INSTC will make freight movement fast and reliable

Mumbai: Iran’s Chabahar port will play a vital role in the ‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ (INSTC). This will commercially connect India to the Central Asian countries through Iran. Companies in the commercial transport field should use Shahid Beheshti port more in Iran’s Chabahar port project. This will make freight movement easier, faster, more viable and reliable, said Sarbananda Sonowal, India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

In the recently held ‘Shanghai Cooperation Organization-SCO’ meeting, China and Pakistan cited their CPEC project. While Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar replied to China and Pakistan by mentioning the Chabahar port project that India is developing in Iran in the same meeting, Iran is showing special interest in the Chabahar port project being developed by India. A few weeks ago, Iran announced opening its port for India’s trade with Russia and Central Asian countries.

Claims are being made that Iran has achieved many things simultaneously by making this announcement. Due to the nuclear project, Iran has been cornered by the United States and other Western countries. In such a situation, it seems that Iran has increased its geographical and economic importance to a great extent by showing readiness to open the Chabahar port for trade with Russia and Central Asian countries. Some Western analysts and the media concluded that Iran’s decision would benefit India and Russia and Central Asian countries.

Against this backdrop, a special event called ‘Chabahar Day’ was organized in Mumbai on Sunday. Ambassadors of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan participated in this event. Deputy Head of Ports and Economic Affairs Department of Iran, Jalil Eslami, Consul General of Iran Dr AM Alikhani, and Consul General of Afghanistan Zakia Wardak were also present. Therefore, it is evident that Central Asian countries, including Iran, are giving great importance to the ‘INSTC’ project. Speaking on occasion, India’s Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, highlighted the importance of this project. Union Minister Sonowal expressed confidence that the countries which do not have access to ports will get huge benefits from INSTC and this will increase their trade.

Meanwhile, due to the ‘INSTC’ project, the status of India’s trade with Russia and Central Asian countries will change and it is claimed that India’s trade will increase enormously due to this. So far, India did not have this trade opportunity as Pakistan had not opened the trade route. But now, due to INSTC, Pakistan cannot block India’s trade. This will end the geographical importance of Pakistan. Realizing this, for the past few years, Pakistan has proposed to open the way for India’s trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. But now, India is ignoring this proposal of Pakistan and India seems to have shifted its focus to INSTC.