India will start shipping 35,000 containers of wheat to Afghanistan via the Iranian port of Chabahar in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province within two weeks.
“In the first phase, 7,500 containers will be shipped,” Sakineh Ashrafi, an official at Sistan-Baluchestan Governorate, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Tuesday.
From Chabahar, the shipments will be transported via road to Milak, a border city on the Afghan border.
Port and rail infrastructures in Chabahar are not fully developed yet. New Delhi, Tehran, and Kabul signed a trilateral deal last year to develop the port and use it as a hub for transit of goods from India to landlocked Afghanistan.
Indian Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said the strategic port will become operational by 2018.
“India and Iran have historically shared special ties...We are keen on developing Chabahar Port and are hopeful of starting operations in 12 to 18 months,” Gadkari said on the eve of his visit to Tehran last week.
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