Bill on establishing int’l transport corridor sent to parliament

EghtesadOnline: A bill on agreement to establish an international transport corridor by the Iranian, Afghan and Indian governments was sent to the parliament on Tuesday.

News ID: ۷۷۷۰۶۰

17 June 2017

Vice-President for Parliamentary Affairs Hosseinali Amiri in a letter to the parliament’s presiding board wrote that the agreement comprises a prelude and 15 articles in the form of bill and it has been sent to parliament to undergo legal procedures, IRNA reported.

“The bill on agreement for establishment of international transport corridor among Iran, India and Afghanistan (known as Chabahar agreement) is hereby submitted for procedures,” Amiri added.

Just some 72 km West of China-developed Gwadar port in Pakistan’s restive province of Baluchistan, Chabahar, on the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, provides India a land-sea access route into Afghanistan and Central Asia through the Bandar Abbas-Caspian Sea axis.

Several foreign countries are willing to make huge investments in economic and infrastructure projects of Chabahar Port following the July 14 agreement between Tehran and six world powers but Iran is scrutinizing the offers to select the most qualified ones as its future partners.

In may 2016, In May, Tehran, New Delhi and Afghanistan signed an epoch-making agreement in Tehran to establish a transit and transportation corridor.

The agreement known as Chabahar Trilateral Agreement was signed by the three countries' officials in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tehran.

The trilateral Chabahar agreement will considerably increase making use of Chabahar port that will connect India to Central Asia through Afghanistan and instead will provide Afghanistan's access to India via sea.