Iran, India sign port deal

Number of agreements inked

TEHRAN, Iran, May 23, (Agencies): India says it will invest up to $500 million in a deal to develop a strategic port in Iran and plan a number of projects they say are worth hundreds of millions of dollars in joint projects.

The deal and plans were announced Monday during a visit by an Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the first such trip in more than a decade.

The two countries signed a number of agreements including the development of Chabahar port in southeast Iran, expanding a trade route for the land-locked countries of central Asia that bypasses Pakistan.

Modi said about $500 million is available from India for the project and that the oil and gas industries are key components to the future economic cooperation between Tehran and Delhi.

“Based on mutual contracts, the development of Chabahar (southeast) and its infrastructure, and allocating $500 million of credit from India in this regard, will be the cornerstone of this major action,” Modi said at a televised news conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

“Undoubtedly, this deal will lead to economic progress and growth of the region,” he said. “We are determined to make these contracts operational as soon as possible.”

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also flew in to Tehran on Monday for the signing of a tripartite agreement between Iran, India and his country to turn Chabahar into a transit hub between the three countries, bypassing Pakistan.

Rouhani said Iran and India had decided to transform their trading links to the level of “comprehensive economic relations”.

He and Modi witnessed the signing of 12 memorandums of understanding, two of them on Chabahar port, on the Gulf of Oman.

They include a deal between Iran’s Maritime and Ports Organisation and India’s EXIM bank to work out the details of a line of credit to develop Chabahar.