India--Iran--Afghanistan Finalise Agreement on Chabahar TRANSPORT and TRANSIT pact

[Mo12]

Chahbar will mainly be an import centric port and many shipping lines will find it uncompetitive as they will have to return from the port with empty ship. There is not much Afghanistan and Iran can export to middle east unlike China which has a massive market share for exports to middle east + massive re-exports from Dubal free zones too.

The economic viability of Chabar in terms of volume of trade is still questionable..and over all it an Indian sponsored project to facilitate Indian exports.

looks like when india and china road opens, the transport time willl reduce

is china only road route to central asia is through pak?

 

[somebozo]

looks like when india and china road opens, the transport time willl reduce

is china only road route to central asia is through pak?

China has a direct border with Central Asia.
and for your Orange brain CHina is a stake holder in Gawadar..when you own a piece of pie it makes more sense to use it too..and reduces operational cost.

 

[Kaniska]

Now that international sanctions have been lifted, Iranians can have more choices going forward as far as investments and infrastructure developments are concerned and China, Russia, and E.U. would likely be on the front to compete.. If in any case Iranians decide to go with India, it should prepare itself to compete with mighty China in Pakistan's Gwadar.

It might happen that Iran will use both Chabbar and Gwadar too? Why do we always think to see the things black and white? Why can not India, Pakistan, Iran, China and whoever would like to use either Gwadar or Chabbar can use it with required fee for their need?

Let us think in a different way. Let us feel happy that in the region around Balochistan, we are 2 ports, which can be used as a transport corridor for South Asia, Central Asia and other interested parties too.

 

[dadeechi]

With Chabahar Text Finalised, India’s Dream of a Road to Afghanistan Gathers Speed

Negotiators from Afghanistan, India and Iran have reached agreement on the contours of a deal that will turn an Iranian port near Pakistan into the hub through which all roads to the region from India will run.

New Delhi: The 13-year-old proposal of a trade route from India to Iran, and Afghanistan and also Central Asia – bypassing Pakistan – is now within grasping distance of becoming reality.

The three countries have finished negotiations on the text of the trilateral transport and transit pact that will serve as the legal framework to operate trade corridors with the Iranian port of Chabahar as its main hub.

“The three technical negotiating teams finalised the text yesterday (Monday, April 11),” Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, Shaida Abdali told The Wire on Tuesday evening. “This is a very, very crucial agreement for Afghanistan. The opening of this corridor will help us to fully reach our potential, give us a new trade route. This is a completely new chapter”.

Monday was a very long day for Indian, Iranian and Afghanistan negotiators as they laboured to finish the text. They finally dispersed after shaking hands at 9.30 in the night. The text was finalized at the second meeting of the expert group. Their first meeting had been in Tehran last September.

“We are talking about the dates for the signing, which will likely take place in Iran,” he said.

Asked who would sign the agreement, Abdali said the preference was for this to happen “at the highest level possible”. “We hope to sign it within the next two months,” he added.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Iran in the first half of this year.

Sources said that the agreement will encompass the trade and transport corridors which will link Mumbai to Chabahar and Afghanistan, via Zahedan. However, the pact has not specified the routes, which will be decided later.

As per diplomatic sources, negotiators had to overcome last moment hurdles over visa issues.

To New Delhi and Kabul, Pakistan’s development of Gwadar port with China and continued reluctance to give transit rights to India for Afghanistan and Central Asia, gives a certain strategic sheen to Chabahar. In 2014-15, India-Afghanistan bilateral trade stood at $684 million, which both capitals feel is far below potential.

While India and Iran had first spoken about Chabahar in 2002, the first trilateral meeting with Afghanistan was held in 2003. In 2004, Ashok Leyland Project services and two state-owned railway construction firms formed a consortium with ambitious plans for building the missing rail connectivity and developing the port. But the work never took off.

India completed the 215-kilometre Zaranj-Delaram highway in 2009, which gave land-locked Afghanistan an outlet to another sea port – thereby reducing its dependence on access to Pakistani ports.

With nearly a decade lost due to Western sanctions against Iran over the nuclear issue, there was some sign of life in the Iranian port project when a trilateral working group was set up in 2012.

Meanwhile, Iran and six world powers formally began nuclear negotiations in November 2013. It was the wake-up call required for New Delhi to remove the cobwebs over the Chabahar talks and take it forward.

When the nuclear negotiations were at the last crucial stage, shipping minister Nitin Gadkari visited visited Iran in May 2015 and signed an $85 million deal for lease of two berths which will be used as container and multi-purpose cargo terminals.

But India got a rude shock after the signing of the MoU on learning that Iran had not disclosed that the port had been leased on a long-term basis to a private firm, Arya Bandar. Both sides went back to the drawing board to draw up a new contract.

On July 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Hassan Rouhani met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Ufa, Russia, which provided the required political impetus to Chabahar.

Five days days later, the foreign ministers of six nations – the P5+1 – stood together in Vienna and announced the completion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. As foreign firms rushed to Thran in anticipation of the removal of sanctions, India tried to keep pace.

Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif travelled to India to keep up the impetus in August. External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will make a return visit this week – on April 16.

Meanwhile, New Delhi and Kabul were also coordinating efforts, with the project figuring large in bilateral documents released after major visits in April and December last year.

In between, the India-Iran joint commission meeting in Delhi in December kept up the pressure – with Swaraj noting that Indian participation in Chabahar will “facilitate the linking of Afghanistan and Central Asia with India”.

In January 4 this year, Afghanistan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah made a visit to the port project.

At the Raisina Dialogue last month, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar also termed the opening up of Iran as one of the “game changers” which would help India to break out towards Central Asia.

After the official lifting of the sanctions against Iran in January 2016, bilateral foreign office consultations in Delhi took the matter forward – especially as a bilateral VVIP visit was on the anvil. China’s spreading presence in Chabahar was another added incentive for New Delhi to accelerate progress.

Meanwhile, other pieces of the Chabahar puzzle were falling into place. The contract between Iran’s Arya Bander and India Ports Global Private Limited, an SPV of the Kandla and Jawaharlal Nehru port trust, was finalised and will be signed during the Maritime India summit this week. The cabinet also approved a $150 million line of credit for development of Chabahar.

This week, the minister of state for petroleum and gas, Dharmendra Pradhan went to Iran bearing gifts – or at least the promise of gifts – worth $20 billion. On April 10, he visited the Chabahar free trade zone and port and expressed interest in setting up an LNG plant and a gas cracker unit at Chabahar.

@Abingdonboy @PARIKRAMA @zebra7 @Bad Guy @topgun047
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Thank you Iran and Afghanistan.

Excellent development. These routes are bound to be connected to Central Asia and Russia.

 

[Khafee]

So What does Chabahar bring to the table, that Bandar Abbas does not offer?

 

[CHD]

So What does Chabahar bring to the table, that Bandar Abbas does not offer?

It cant handle the load of poppy and hashish indians wants to import from afghanistan.

 

[Imad.Khan]

1. Gwader Port at its current stage is for China to have access to the Indian Ocean, Pakistan gets transit fees
2. Chabahar current plan is for India to have access to the Afghan Market. Iran gets transit fees

So whats the problem here? why can't everyone be happy as this way all countries benefit.

 

[dadeechi]

So What does Chabahar bring to the table, that Bandar Abbas does not offer?

India's goal is to reach Russia (CIS), Central Asia and Iran

Defence Imports from Russia & Ukraine

Oil and Gas Imports from Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Oman

Uranium Imports from Kazakhstan

Fruits, Stones, Carpets, Minerals from Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

If Pakistan has issues with TAPI route then it would become TII (Turkmenistan-Iran-India)

 

[That Guy]

India has been half assing this project for a long time, while continuing to sign treaty after treaty, and promising tens of billions of dollars that have yet to materialize.

I highly doubt we'll see anything materialize anytime soon.

 

[dadeechi]

India’s energy pipeline diplomacy back into play
Proposed lifting of Iran sanctions expected to help revival plans for gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan

Utpal Bhaskar

Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan met with Iran’s petroleum minister Bijan Namdar Zangenah in June at Vienna, where the ‘possibility of building gas pipeline’ was discussed. Photo: Manoj Verma/Mint
New Delhi: India’s energy pipeline diplomacy is back into play with the National Democratic Alliance government working on simultaneous plans for constructing transnational crude oil and gas pipelines to India from Turkmenistan, Russia and Kazakhstan.

In addition, the proposed lifting of sanctions on Iran are expected to help the revival plans for a gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan to India.

This comes in the backdrop of subdued international energy prices, with producing countries seeking buyers as their respective economies are heavily dependent on exports for revenues. A case in point is Russia, which is particularly affected due to the twin onslaught of low oil prices and Moscow facing Western sanctions for the annexation of Crimea and its support for rebels in neighbouring Ukraine.

India’s pipeline project plans come in the backdrop of the International North-South Transport Corridor that promises to cut the costs involved in transporting goods to Central Asia by 30%. The proposed pipeline projects include the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, and crude and gas pipelines from Russia and Kazakhstan.

“There are several projects in various stages of planning and discussions. They are very important from the viewpoint of India’s growing demand for energy and also energy security. Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, had recently visited India, wherein a joint working group was set up to examine the possibilities of such a pipeline from Kazakhstan,” an Indian government official aware of the developments said, requesting anonymity. “Similarly, efforts are being made with Russia for transportation of both oil and gas to India. The pipeline from Turkmenistan is a serious proposal with plans with Russia and Kazakhstan in advanced stages of discussions.”

State-owned TurkmenGaz is to lead the multinational consortium with a majority investment in the $9 billion, 1,814km pipeline project, which is expected to have a capacity of 90 million standard cu. m per day (mscmd) of gas from Turkmenistan’s Gunorta Yoloten-Osman fields. Of this, 38 mscmd is planned for supply to India.

The International North-South Transport Corridor was first agreed upon between India, Iran and Russia in 2000. The route connects Mumbai in India to Bandar Abbas port in Iran and then Bandar-e Anzali in northern Iran on the Caspian Sea coast. From there, goods are expected to be transported to Astrakhan in Russia and then to Central Asia.

India sees this route as shorter than the current one that goes through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. While the Suez Canal route takes 45-60 days, the North-South Corridor will take 25-30 days. From India’s point of view, the North-South Corridor will help India bypass Pakistan to reach out to Central Asia.

Speaking at Mint’s annual energy conclave on Friday, Soumen Bagchi, joint secretary, energy security, at India’s ministry of external affairs, said the country’s energy pipeline diplomacy was back with “positive developments”.

After India and the US signed a civil nuclear deal in 2008, several Iran-related Indian projects have either been put on hold or dropped. India decided to focus on the TAPI gas pipeline instead of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project. India’s petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan met with Iran’s petroleum minister Bijan Namdar Zangenah in June at Vienna, where the “possibility of building gas pipeline from Iran to India through various alternate routes” was discussed.

Experts welcomed the move.

“India’s pipeline diplomacy should get back into play. I have been a strong votary that we should work with Iran for an undersea pipeline. For our energy security, we are going to be dependent on gas. So it is important that we work on pipelines from the West and the East and from the land as well as the sea routes. It is of course a matter of feasibility and availability of gas from these diverse sources,” said Anil Razdan, former additional and special secretary in India’s petroleum ministry.

India is also looking at a second route through Iran’s Chabahar port that will help it join another transit corridor linking Iran and Oman with several Central Asian republics.

Also, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Central Asian nations of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan in July, energy security was a key theme. The TAPI pipeline project was also discussed during Modi’s visit to energy-rich Turkmenistan.

Queries emailed to India’s petroleum ministry remained unanswered at the time of going to print. However, in a 17 June statement, the ministry said: “Both sides are keen to expand our cooperation in the area of hydrocarbons. Various proposals are currently under discussions between the two sides. We also agreed to conduct a feasibility study on transportation of crude oil and gas from Kazakhstan to India via pipeline or as LNG (liquefied natural gas).”

India follows the US, China and Russia in total energy usage, accounting for 4.4% of global energy consumption. India imports 80% of its crude oil and 25% of its natural gas requirements. Petroleum product consumption in India has also been growing. According to the oil ministry, it grew 3.14% to around 163.17 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15. India also sourced 189.43 mt of crude oil last year.

The price of oil in the Indian energy basket has been around $50 per barrel, starting 4 August. The Indian energy basket represents the average of Oman, Dubai and Brent crude. The price rose to $49.37 per barrel on Tuesday.

“India’s emergence as the fourth largest consumer of energy in the world has coincided with a collapse in global oil prices. The resulting buyer’s market has only strengthened India’s negotiating power,” added Pradhan at Mint’s annual energy conclave on Friday.

India’s energy pipeline diplomacy back into play - Livemint

 

[That Guy]

1. Gwader Port at its current stage is for China to have access to the Indian Ocean, Pakistan gets transit fees
2. Chabahar current plan is for India to have access to the Afghan Market. Iran gets transit fees

So whats the problem here? why can't everyone be happy as this way all countries benefit.

Both ports connect to central Asia. Afghanistan has said it will not give access to Pakistan anytime soon (though that seems to be changing), but has shown its willingness to allow India access to Tajikistan through Chabahar port.

 

[HAIDER]

So What does Chabahar bring to the table, that Bandar Abbas does not offer?

Its Indian wish to explore Afghan market. Or may be reach out central Asia.

 

[dadeechi]

Both ports connect to central Asia. Afghanistan has said it will not give access to Pakistan anytime soon (though that seems to be changing), but has shown its willingness to allow India access to Tajikistan through Chabahar port.

Why would China need Gwadar to reach Central Asia? China has a direct border with Central Asia.

CPEC route is primarily for Chinese trade with Africa while Iran's Chabahar port would be primarily used by India to reach Iran, Central Asia and CIS.

 

[Roybot]

So What does Chabahar bring to the table, that Bandar Abbas does not offer?

Closer to India, closer to the Afghan border, less congested (making it cheaper).

 

[wiseone2]

If we give Iranians access to China, they should reciprocate, maybe give us access to Turkey.

why does Iran need Pakistan for access to China ? They can go through Uzbekistan and Tajikstan to China

Why would China need Gwadar to reach Central Asia? China has a direct border with Central Asia.

CPEC route is primarily for Chinese trade with Africa while Iran's Chabahar port would be primarily used by India to reach Iran, Central Asia and CIS.

Some of the Pakistanis posters are geographically challenged or want everything to pass through Pakistan. I have no objection to goods going through Pakistan if it makes sense