Afghanistan ready for pact on Chabahar port

KABUL is willing to ink a tripartite accord with India and Iran on the Chabahar port, a diplomat said, hailing Kabul-Delhi relations as steady.

His country was interested in signing the trilateral transit agreement to find a route for Kabul-Delhi trade, Afghan Ambassador Shaida M. Abdali told journalists in the Indian capital.

A significant commercial venture, the port is the shortest transit way to Afghanistan. In August 2012, a meeting among deputy foreign ministers from Iran, Afghanistan and Indian was held in Tehran on Kabul’s access to the facility.

Speaking at the Press Club of India on Saturday, the envoy said Afghanistan had recently exported 15 containers of dry fruits through the Chabahar port. “We are trying to upgrade the capacity of the port and the railway line.”

According to the news agency IANS, Abdali said Afghan-ties relations were not transitory. “It is a relationship that will only deepen in future.”

While wooing Indian investors to Afghanistan, the diplomat said they desired joint ventures. There would be some problems in such business enterprises, but one could not get anything without taking risk, he remarked.

Pakistan was in the interest of both neighbours.

“Peace will come through negotiations and it will mean peace in Pakistan as well. Both should engage in a serious manner,” Abdali concluded.

PAN Monitor/mud

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