NEW DELHI – Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has invited Pakistan toparticipate in the Chabahar Port project that connects India toAfghanistan, Central Asia and Eastern Europe and reportedly India is onunease over the offer.
The move may be seen as Zarif’s bid to allay concerns in Pakistan over theIndian involvement in the Iranian port. The Iranian minister also extendedthe invitation to China.
“We offered to participate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).We have also offered Pakistan and China to participate in Chahbahar,”Zarif, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan, said while delivering alecture at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) on Monday,according to the daily.
India, Iran and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement in 2016 tojointly develop the Chabahar port, opening a new strategic transit routebetween the three nations and other Central Asian nations, bypassingPakistan.
In November 2017, India delivered the first consignment of wheat toAfghanistan through the Chabahar Port.
Zarif had earlier held bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpartKhawaja Asif and addressed a trade conference. The visiting ForeignMinister is being accompanied by a large trade delegation from Iran.
He also said that Gwadar Port and Chabahar Port needed to be linked throughsea and land routes for development of deprived Eastern and South-easternIran and South Western Pakistan.
“We are taking measures to do that and there is an open invitation toPakistan to participate in that,” Zarif said.
He also said that the Chabahar port project was not meant to “encirclePakistan … strangulate anybody”, adding that Iran would not allow anybodyto hurt Pakistan from its territory, much like Pakistan would not allow itssoil to be used against Iran.
Zarif likened Iran’s relations with India to Pakistan’s ties with SaudiArabia. “Our relations with India, just like Pakistan’s relations withSaudi Arabia, are not against Islamabad as we understand Pakistan’srelations with Saudi Arabia are not against Iran.”