Fifth ship carrying India’s wheat to Afghanistan docks at Chabahar port
The fifth ship carrying 300 containers of wheat with a total weight of 7,500 tons has docked at Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti port, said the director-general of Sistan and Baluchestan Ports and Maritime Department, adding that it is ready to unload the Afghanistan-bound cargo.
Behrouz Aqaei said on Monday that the previous ship arrived at the port of Chabahar in early spring, despite the coronavirus pandemic, reported Mehr News Agency.
Chabahar port enjoys a good and suitable situation for transporting, transiting and transshipping [maritime transport] of goods to the Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, he said, adding, “With the coordination made in this regard, all 75,000 tons of wheat, donated by India to Afghanistan, will be transited to this country via Milak Border in Zabol.”
He noted that Chabahar port is considered a golden opportunity for Afghanistan in the field of exporting and transiting goods, adding that the development of economic and trade relations between nations is one of the main objectives behind the construction of Shahid Beheshti port.
In 2016, Iran, India, and Afghanistan decided to jointly establish a trade route for landlocked Central Asian countries.
India sent its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar port back in 2017.
In February 2019, the Afghanistan-iran-india corridor for trade between the two countries through Chabahar port was officially inaugurated.
In February this year, the Secretary-general of the Iranafghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce Mozafar Alikhani announced that Iran has approved two Afghan banks to open branches in its southeastern strategic port of Chabahar.
“Due to the strategic nature of Chabahar port and being exempted from US sanctions, Iran has allowed two Afghan banks to establish branches at the port so that the two countries’ businessmen would be able to use their facilities and services,” Alikhani said.
There are strong economic ties between the two countries in terms of cultural, linguistic and historical commonalities, and many Afghan traders are familiar with the patterns of trade and consumption in Iran, he said.
“Iran currently supplies about 35 percent of Afghanistan’s total imports, apart from technical engineering and educational services,” Alikhani said.