An aerial view of Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar.
By Presstv.com.
Iran
has offered India $8 billion worth of infrastructure projects, including
a stake in developing the strategic port of Chabahar, the country’s
ambassador to New Delhi has said. . The two countries
signed an MoU in May for Chabahar’s development in southeast Iran but a
commercial accord is needed to implement the pact. New Delhi wants
to use the port’s potentials for connectivity, including its terminals
to operate container and multi-purpose cargo ships for trade with
Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries. . Ambassador Gholamreza
Ansari said President Hassan Rouhani had offered Prime Minister
Narendra Modi an expanded role for India to play in Iran’s connectivity
plans. . "Connectivity is the main policy of Modi that coincides
with Iran's government policy. We have offered them, in connectivity, $8
billion of projects," the Indian media quoted Ansari as saying. . Iran
is fleshing out the transportation network on its southern coasts as it
is developing an integrated transit corridor which connects the Persian
Gulf to the Caspian Sea for a link with the Central Asia and beyond. . The
International North–South Transport Corridor between India, Russia,
Iran, Europe and the Central Asia for freight transportation by the
ship, rail, and road will join the Silk Road -- an ambitious plan
championed by China to revive the ancient international trade route. . Rouhani’s
meeting with Modi came during recent summits of BRICS and Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) nations in the Central Asian city of Ufa
in Russia. Ansari
cited a “golden time” for India to seize on investment opportunities in
Iran after the conclusion of nuclear negotiations between the Islamic
Republic and the P5+1 group of countries. . The focus is now on the
removal of sanctions, with many governments and international companies
having already started scouting business prospects in the country. . "The
potential between Iran and India is great but we were just facing such a
wall of sanctions, wall of American pressure," Ansari said. . The
ambassador urged India to put aside its past procrastination, citing
Iran’s giant Farzad B gas field which New Delhi had been offered
exceptional privileges to develop. . Ansari said the Indians were
still the "first priority" to develop the field but "if they drag their
feet, the market will not wait". . India also plans a $3 billion
aluminum smelter complex in Iran, its media said this week. The project
was mooted in 2014 but India has been cooling its heels for the removal
of the sanctions. . The country’s National Aluminium Co. is now
seriously considering to implement the project after Iran and the P5+1
finalized their nuclear negotiations, media reports said.
