CHABAHAR PORT

1.Context

2.Why is Chabahar back in the news?

• Ahead of the visit to Iran, where Mr Sonowal met with senior Ministers as well as officials connected to the Shahid Beheshti terminal project development.
• An official statement said that the visit would be a chance to "Strengthen ties and the maritime relationship" between the two countries.
• Due to the pandemic, there were fewer visits from India to Iran and vice-versa.
• This visit will also highlight the importance of Chabahar as a gateway for Indian Trade with Europe, Russia and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Countries.
• Mr Sonowal reviewed the progress in the work on the terminal and handed over six mobile harbour cranes to improve efficiency and invigorate the potential of chabahar in the loading and unloading operations at the port.

3.India's strategic vision

1. To build India's first offshore port and to project Indian infrastructure prowess in the Gulf,
2. To circumvent trade through Pakistan, given the tense ties with India's neighbour and build a long-term, sustainable sea trade route and 
3. To find an alternative land route to Afghanistan, which India had rebuilt ties with after the defeat of the Taliban in 2001.

4.Trilateral Agreement 

• In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Tehran and signed the agreement to develop Chabahar port, as well as the trilateral agreement for trade through Chabahar with Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani.
• Since the India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ) authority took over the operations of the port in 2018.
• It has handled 215 vessels, 16, 000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and four million tons of bulk and general cargo, the government said in Parliament last month.

5.Chabahar Route

• In the last few years, a fourth strategic objective for the Chabahar route has appeared, with China's Belt and Road Initiative making inroads in the region.
• The government hopes to provide Central Asia with an alternate route to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through Iran for Future Trade.

6.Reasons for the delay

• Since the beginning, the development of the Shahid Beheshti terminal in Chabahar, as well as surrounding infrastructure, has hit geopolitical roadblock after roadblock.
• The biggest issue has been over Iran's relationship with western countries, especially the United States.
• In years when Western sanctions against Iran increased and the Chabahar project has been put on the back-burner, while in the years when nuclear talks that resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015 came into being, the Chabahar port has been easier to work on.
• In 2018, the U.S. Trump administration put paid to India's plans by walking out of the JCPOA and slapping new sanctions on dealing with Iran.
• This led to the Modi Government "Zeroing out" all its oil imports from Iran, earlier a major supplier to India, causing a strain in ties.
• Even though the U.S. made a special "carve-out" on sanctions for Chabahar.
• On the ground, has been difficult to source equipment for the port construction from infrastructure companies that continue to fear secondary sanctions, as well as to engage in shipping and insurance companies for trade through Chabahar.

7.Ties with Taliban

• The Modi Government also snapped ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, which put an end to the Humanitarian aid of wheat and pulses that were being sent to Kabul via Chabahar.
• When India restarted Wheat aid to Afghanistan this year, it negotiated with Pakistan to use the land route instead.
• With the government now reopening the Indian Embassy in Kabul and Establishing ties with the Taliban government.
• The Chabahar route may once again be employed, another reason for the recent flurry of activity at the Iranian port the terminal that India has pinned so many hopes on.