TEHRAN – Ports and maritime officials of Iran and Afghanistan have met to discuss investment opportunities for the Afghan private sector in Iran’s southeastern Chabahar Port, the portal of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) reported.

In the meeting attended by the director general of the Ports and Maritime Department of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, the governor-general of the province, some MPs, and officials of the Afghanistan Trade and Industry Ministry, the opportunities for cooperation and participation of the private sector of Afghanistan in Chabahar port were introduced and reviewed.

Qasem Askari-Nasab, the director general of the Ports and Maritime Department of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, welcomed the request of the Afghan government to invest in the Iranian port while introducing the commercial facilities and capacities of Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti port to the Afghan side.

“The Afghan side's investment in Chabahar port, in addition to the possibility of Afghanistan's access to open waters, will strengthen the economic relations between the two countries and develop transit in the region,” Askari-Nasab said.

Introducing new economic opportunities to increase trade relations between the investors of the two countries, he further proposed that the Afghan side invest in the construction of a multi-purpose terminal for goods and containers.

As Iran's only oceanic port on the Gulf of Oman, Chabahar Port holds great significance for the country both politically and economically. The country has taken serious measures to develop this port in order to improve the country’s maritime trade.

The port consists of Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti terminals, each of which has five berth facilities. The port is located in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province and is about 120 kilometers southwest of Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province, where the China-funded Gwadar port is situated.

EF/MA