7th Ship Carrying Indian Wheat for Afghanistan Arrives in Iran’s Chabahar

The seventh cargo ship carrying Indian donated wheat for Afghanistan with 352 containers has docked at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar, southeastern Iran, a provincial official told IRNA on Wednesday. Behrouz Aghaei, the director-general of Ports and Maritime Department of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, where the strategic Chabahar Port lies, said that the consignment weighs about 8,800 tons. He added that some 1,700 containers weighing 43,000 tons of India’s wheat for Afghanistan have so far arrived in Chabahar Port. The shipment has been sent to Afghanistan through the Milak border in the southern part of Sistan-Baluchestan. India aims to donate some 75,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan via the Iranian port city of Chabahar.

Refereeing to the arrival of other humanitarian wheat from India to Afghanistan in the upcoming months of the current year, Aghaei said, “While the world economy is affected by the coronavirus pandemic, we observe the development of exports and imports in Shahid Beheshti port.” Earlier, Union Minister of State for Shipping and Union Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers of India Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya said his country will save 20% logistic costs by using Chabahar Port for transporting to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

"In a strategic development, loading and unloading of cargo have started at Chabahar Port. Container transport logistic costs to CIS countries will be reduced by 20% through Chabahar. So far, cargo to CIS countries from India could be sent only via China or Europe," he added. "If we want to send containers to CIS countries we can only send via Europe or China. There was no other connectivity with CIS countries. Now, we have developed Chabahar Port and there is direct connectivity to these countries via Afghanistan," the Indian minister noted.

In 2016, Iran, India, and Afghanistan decided to jointly establish a trade route for land-locked Central Asian countries. India sent its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar Port back in 2017. Later on, in February 2019, the Afghanistan-Iran-India trade corridor for the trade between the two countries through Chabahar Port was officially inaugurated. India which initially committed up to US$500 million for the development of Chabahar Port along with associated roads and rail lines, doubled the allocated funding for the development of the port in its national budget bill for 2020. - Tehran Times