The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal has reinforced India’s commitment to unlocking trade potential with the Central Asian region through the use of Chabahar Port in Iran.
Speaking at an event organised on the occasion of ‘Chabahar Day’, Union Ports, Shipping & Waterways Ministry along with the Indian Ports Global Ltd. (IPGL), the Minister said, “Our vision is to make Chabahar Port a transit hub under the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to reach out to CIS countries. The idea of INSTC via the vibrant Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar in Iran is to connect the two markets using a multi-modal logistic corridor. This will rationalise our logistics cost which will contribute towards the trade volume between the two regions.” he said.
Located in Iran, the Chabahar Port is the commercial transit centre for the region, especially Central Asia. According to the Minister, the loading and unloading capacity of the Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabhar which today stands at 8.5 million tonnes, will be enhanced to 15 million tonnes on completion of Phase I of the project
Sonowal also urged all stakeholders to provide suggestions on promoting the Chabahar INSTC Link to further reduce the transportation time, open a shorter, faster and more reliable route from India to Central Asia and increase the feasibility of hassle-free trade between the two regions.
