KABUL - As officials from Afghanistan, India and Iran met in Tehran on Sunday for a trilateral meet, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes the event would be fruitful in giving a boost to regional security and economic situation.
The trilateral meet involving deputy foreign ministers of the three countries is expected to confer on best utilization of Chabahar Port, a significant commercial venture located in southeast Iran. The port offers tremendous opportunities for trade and commerce for India in Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan.
Coming ahead of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit next week on Thursday and Friday, the meeting is more likely to discuss the issue of security and stability in Afghanistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Musazai told reporters in Kabul they hoped the event would provide an opportunity for participating nations to work jointly for enhanced trade activity among the three countries.
Follow up meetings to the trilateral meet would take place after every six months, he said, revealing the next meeting would be discussing joint investment, airline between Kabul, Chabahar and the UAE, the establishment of private banks at the port and facilities for traders.
Musazai said enhanced trade relations with Iran and particularly increased cooperation in transit trade at the Chabahar port were of great importance.
The port is 700 kilometers from southwestern Nimroz and falls 1000 kilometers short compared to the Karachi port in Pakistan for Afghan traders, who export and import 80 percent of their goods through the Karachi port.
Musazai said Afghan and Iran had signed an agreement in April last. Under the agreement, Iran granted a land measuring 125 acres at the Chabahar port to Afghan traders for investment, he said.
The move had resolved many problems previously faced by Afghan businessmen, said Musazai, who claimed Afghanistan’s access to the major port had been helpful in reducing reliance on Pakistan.
The foreign ministry spokesman also informed that Afghanistan would take part in the next week’s Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran on Thursday and Friday.
Foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul will leave Kabul on Wednesday for Tehran to attend the summit, Musazai said, calling the summit as part of preparations for a meeting between heads of the states.
To a question that whether the death of a key Haqqani network leader, Badruddin Haqqani, would leave any effect on the peace process, Musazai said the Afghan government was fully committed to keeping the peace parleys continued. “We welcome all those efforts that can do away with terrorism and bring about peace and stability to the country,” he said.
The Afghan Taliban rejected reports that the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network had been killed. A day earlier, senior insurgents and members of the Pakistani government said they believed Badruddin Haqqani was dead. (Pajhwok)