Oman sees investment in Iran's chabahar port a top priority

A senior Omani official said his country's investors plan to make huge investments in Iran's Southern port city of Chabahar. "The goal of my visit to Chabahar is finding out more about the capacities of Chabahar port and free zone for port, transit and railway investment projects," Head of an Omani Delegation Visiting Chabahar Khalid bin Hamd Mohammad Al-Keylani said during his visit to the Iranian port on Wednesday. He described lack of familiarity with each other's capacities as a main problem standing in the way of reciprocal trade and investment activities by Iranian and Omani traders, and said, "Iran and Oman should implement the many memoranda of understanding (MoUs) that they have already signed." Chabahar is a strategic port in Southwestern Iran linking the Persian Gulf to the Central Asia. Several countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have reiterated their plans to make huge investments in the city. In 2013, former Afghanistan's Ambassador to Tehran Nasir Ahmad Nour said that Kabul is ready to invest in Iran’s Southern port city of Chabahar. Describing Iran-Afghanistan trade transactions as growing, Ahmad Nour said Kabul is interested in making investments in Chabahar Free Trade Zone. Also earlier this year, Afghan Minister of Commerce and Industry Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady noted that Kabul cannot make complete use of Pakistani ports despite trade agreements signed between the two countries. The North-South Transport Corridor is the ship, rail, and road route for moving cargo from South Asia to Europe through Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Russia. Iran is located in the international corridor with the Iranian part of the corridor starting in Chabahar in the South and stretching up to the city of Mashhad. Iran's Chabahar port, which is located 72 kilometers West of Pakistan's Gwadar port, holds immense strategic and economic significance for India. Chabahar and Gwadar ports are located in a common coast and they are 70 kilometers away from one another. The transit agreement involves India, Iran and Afghanistan. India had held discussions with Iran on the Chabahar port during Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to Tehran in May 2013.