External Affairs Min Jaishankar stresses on connectivity, proposes Chabahar Port be included in North-South Transport Corridor

Yerevan (Armenia): Stressing on the need for enhanced connectivity, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday proposed that the strategic Chabahar Port in Iran be included in the North-South Transport Corridor that has the potential to bridge connectivity barriers, as he agreed on a roadmap for future course of cooperation and exchanges during his meetings with Armenia's top leadership.

Jaishankar, who arrived here on Tuesday on the last leg of his three-nation tour to Central Asia with an aim to further expand bilateral ties and discuss key regional issues including the developments in Afghanistan, is the first-ever External Affairs Minister to visit Armenia.

The minister called on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and conveyed greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to him. "Thank PM @NikolPashinyan of Armenia for receiving me today. Conveyed greetings of PM @narendramodi. Meeting brought out the many convergences and shared outlook of our two countries. We agreed to develop a broad agenda of practical cooperation that is to our mutual benefit," he tweeted.

Earlier, Jaishankar held bilateral talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan and addressed a joint press meet with him. "Both India and Armenia are members of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which has the potential to bridge the connectivity barrier. So Minister Mirzoyan and I discussed the interest which Armenia has shown in utilisation of the Chabahar Port in Iran and being developed by India," Jaishankar said in his remarks.

"We also proposed the Chabahar Port be included in the International North-South Transport Corridor; we welcome the use of the Chabahar Port and any other initiative that will encourage regional connectivity," he said. The Chabahar port in the Sistan-Balochistan province in the energy-rich nation's southern coast is easily accessible from India's western coast and is increasingly seen as a counter to Pakistan's Gwadar Port located at a distance of around 80-km from Chabahar.

The first phase of the Chabahar port was inaugurated in December 2017 by then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, opening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India and Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.

The Chabahar port is being considered as a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with Central Asian countries, besides ramping up trade among the three countries in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to New Delhi.

On asked about India's interest in developing the Chabahar Port, Jaishankar said, "we are interested because if we develop more ports in Iran and then connectivity from those ports to northwards of Iran, it opens up more trade routes which are land-based, which are more efficient than these sea-based routes. "So the key today to economic progress is to be more competitive in terms of movement of goods and that is why this is important and, at least, I mentioned Chabahar to the minister because it is a port in Iran which India is developing and for us it opens up a pathway at least one side to the Caucasus (intersection of Europe and Asia), opens up a different pathway to Central

Asia and it is an initiative that we are working with the Russians very closely."