On December 20, 2019, the 2nd meeting of the Follow-up Committee for implementing trilateral Chabahar Agreement between India, Afghanistan and Iran was held in New Delhi. The meeting was held at the level of Joint Secretary/ Director General.
Agreement to include Mormugoa and New Mangalore Port from India:
During the meeting, it was agreed to include Mormugao(Goa) and New Mangalore Port(Karnataka) from India in addition to JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust), Mundra(Gujarat), Kandla(Gujarat) and Cochin(Kerala) ports as part of designated route under the Chabahar Agreement.
Other agreements made:
- Streamlining the cargo transit through Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar in Iran will be studied by the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI).
- Agreement was made to finalise protocol to harmonise transit, roads, customs and consular matters. Until a protocol is finalised Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) will be used for cargo movement.
- Business events in Afghanistan and India will be conducted to popularize Chabahar port.
- 3rd followup meeting: The 3rd followup committee meeting was decided to be conducted in India in the 1st half of 2020 followed by 2nd Coordination Council meeting.
Progress in port operations:
i.These 3 countries headed a steady progress in port operations by India Ports Global Ltd company since the company took over the port operations Shaheed Beheshti Port at Chabahar in December 2018.
ii.Over 5 lakh tons of cargo were handled successfully which also included exports from Afghanistan through Chabahar Port which began in February 2019.
About Chabahar Port:
Opened- 1983.
Director General(DG)- Behrouz Aghayi.
Country- Iran.
