Iran’s Chabahar, Pakistan’s Gwadar Complementary

Pakistani Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal underlined that his country’s Gwadar Port is not a rival of Iran’s Chabahar Port and called for expansion of cooperation between the two countries.  “Islamabad does not look at Chabahar as a competing port, rather it is a complementary to Gwadar Port of Pakistan,” Iqbal said on Wednesday, addressing a conference titled “Pakistan-China-Iran: A Trident of Regional Connectivity”, organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, IRNA reported. The Pakistani minister reiterated that Pakistan believes in the vision of regional connectivity for shared prosperity. “We are looking forward to developing strong cooperation between Iran and Pakistan through these two ports. The age of geopolitics is over and the time has come for Pakistan to focus on geo-economics while looking for the regional options,” he said. “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor envisages regional connectivity, therefore we are looking forward to Iran for developing new infrastructure in the region and beyond.” Iqbal’s remarks came after President Hassan Rouhani earlier this month inaugurated the first phase of Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti Port in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. Chabahar is Iran’s only oceanic port town and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti.