Key Point in News?

• Pitching for Chabahar in the INSTC which goes via Iran’s biggest port Bandar Abbas,  the land route via Kabul and Tashkent would form the INSTC’s “Eastern corridor”.
• “Establishing an eastern corridor through Afghanistan would maximise its potential. India has also proposed the inclusion of Chabahar in the INSTC
• “Chabahar Day” event organised as part of the 3-day “Maritime India” summit that was conducted virtually.
• The event saw participation from several regional officials including infrastructure Ministers from Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
• The Port has already handled 123 vessels and 18 lakh tons of cargo, said an official statement issued after the conference, which include trans-shipments from “Russia, Brazil, Thailand, Germany, Ukraine and the UAE”.
• Predicting that Chabahar will change the “geo-economy” of the region, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammed Eslami called for assistance from India in developing the project, both through the provision of cranes and other equipment at the port as well as rail tracks, signal and switching equipment for the Chabahar-Zahedan railway project.
• Iran had also asked India to activate the $150-million credit line it offered during Iranian President Rouhani’s visit to Delhi in 2018 for the project.
• “India has participated in the first phase of development of Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar and we are now witnessing the supplying of equipment.
• It deems necessary for the Indian operator to facilitate the process of supplying the remaining equipment.