India, Uzbekistan, Iran to hold trilateral meet on Chabahar on December 14

New Delhi: The first meeting of India, Uzbekistan, and Iran on the joint use of Chabahar port will take place virtually on Monday. The meeting will be jointly chaired at the deputy minister level from Uzbekistan and Iran and at the secretary-level from India.

The announcement comes just a day after the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The proposal for the trilateral meet was made by the Uzbek side and India has welcomed Uzbekistan interest to use the Chabahar port as a transit port saying "this would open up economic opportunities for the traders and business community of the region", a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs read.

Not Uzbekistan, but other Central Asian countries who have shown interest in using the port, built with the help of New Delhi with India seeking to "cooperate closely with regional countries on this issue".

The development is seen as an important shot in the arm for India's connectivity plans in the west of it, were often Pakistan has been playing an obstructionist role. India sees the Chabahar port as a fulcrum of connectivity in the region, and even the US gave an exemption to the project from Iran sanctions since it not only provided humanitarian supplies to Afghanistan but also economic alternatives.

India built the Shahid Behesti Port at Chabahar as part of India, Iran, Afghanistan 2016 agreement to increase its connectivity with Afghanistan and beyond. In December 2018, an Indian company India Ports Global Limited took over the port operations and as of August of 2020, the port has handled 12 lakhs tons of cargo and 82000 containers.

In fact, India used the port to send 75000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan as part of the humanitarian aid amidst the covid pandemic.