Officials from Iran, India and Afghanistan, negotiated over a trilateral agreement on the transit of goods from the Southern Iranian port of Chabahar in a two-day summit in Tehran, an official in Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization said on Tuesday.
"Officials and experts from ministries of roads and foreign affairs of Iran, India and Afghanistan sought to finalize a pre-planned tripartite agreement on establishment of Chabahar Transit Corridor in a bid to ease transit of goods, and to broaden trade and transportation ties among the three parties," Mohammad Javad Atrchian said.
"The participants aim to have the envisaged agreement signed by presidents or ministers of the three countries in the near future," he added.
This, two-day summit that started on Monday, was the first specialized one held by the three countries on joint cooperation transportation sector of in Chabahar Port.
Tehran, Kabul and New Delhi started their talks on the issue in 2013.
In December 2013, the three sides prepared the draft of a trilateral agreement on the transit of goods from Chabahar.
"A draft has recently been prepared and it is being studied right now by the three parties and we expect this will soon be finalized and then a date for signing this trilateral agreement in one of the three countries will be set," Afghan Ambassador to Tehran Shaida M Abdali announced at the time.
Earlier 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.
In 2014, 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.