The Strategic Analysis of the Chabahar Port by the Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) was released in Kabul on Sunday.
The event was organized by the Afghan Institute of Strategic Studies (AISS) and was attended by Afghan Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Reza Bahrami.
The research was conducted by researchers from Afghanistan, Iran and India.
The report states that Chabahar Port will strengthen relations between the three member nations, and will increase trade and transit ties between the regional countries.
“Afghanistan can participate in most big projects in the region through this port,” AISS researcher Abdul Qadiee Mutfi said.
Abdullah said at the event Afghanistan has adopted the policy of eliminating barriers in order to determine its path towards development.
“Afghanistan works on the policy of removal of barriers and custom tariffs reduction is an example of that,” said Abdullah.
Iranian ambassador Bahrami said Chabahar Port will provide the conditions for joint investments between Afghanistan and Iran.
Bahrami said Iran will establish a steel factory in Chabahar adding that Afghanistan can work with Iran to establish similar factories.
“We want to establish a steel factory in Chabahar where steel we get from domestic sources will be processed and then it will be exported abroad,” Bahrami said.
Indian ambassador to Kabul Manpreet Vohra also said Chabahar Port will not only increase Afghanistan’s trade ties with Iran and other regional countries, but will also increase India’s trade volumes with Central Asian countries through Afghanistan.
“The report says that India’s trade with Central Asia alone could go up by $400 to $500 billion dollars in a matter of years. So that is again extremely significant, certainly for my country. The strategic logic has also been brought out in the paper quite well. That is also evident for all three of us and other countries too,” Vohra said.
A number of people meanwhile insisted that Iran should provide more facilities in the free zone of Chabahar.
