Javad Zarif, the Foreign Affair Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran was on an official visit to India from 27 February to 28 February 2014. During this visit he met with Salman Khurshid, the Union External Affairs Minister of India and the two sides reviewed the expanse of the bilateral relations between the two countries and emphasized to nurture the relations also.
During the same meet in New Delhi, the two ministers on 28 February also agreed to take a decision on Chabahar port by March 2014. The two sides have also decided that specific proposals on the port will be finalized by Nauroz (Iranian/Persian New Year) holidays in March 2014 in Iran.
The two sides also agreed to hold joint consular committees meet at the earliest to address issues of a consular nature. They also discussed regional issues that included Afghanistan along with development in Middle East and the P5 plus one discussion with Iran.
Port of Chabahar
Port of Chabahar is a seaport in Chah Bahar in southeastern Iran and it is located on the border of Indian Ocean and Oman Sea. It is the only Iranian port with direct access to ocean. Chabahar is Iran’s closest and best access point to the Indian Ocean. The port was partially built by India in the 1990s to provide access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, by passing Pakistan.
Diplomacy is the art of balancing. India’s policy of non-alignment during its formative years is paying dividends now. India is equally at ease with USA and Iran and Saudi Arabia and Israel. India focusses more on economic relations than military.
Chabahar, for India, is an access route to Afghanistan and central asia primarily for business.Had Pakistan eased off the route from Arabian sea to Afghanistan and central Asia for India, chabahar would not have come up perhaps and Pakistan would have enjoyed the status like Egypt and Panama.
The port has not even been built never mind being made active.