Oman Eager to Invest in Iran’s Chabahar

Khalid al-Barwani made the remarks in a meeting with Managing Director of Chabahar Free Zone Abdulrahim Kurdi on Sunday afternoon.

“Increasing business and economic cooperation between Oman and Iran could lead to the development of relations between the two countries,” al-Barwani said.

The ambassador further described Chabahar as the best platform for Iran-Oman relations, adding that the port can play an important role in the development of regional trade in the future.

He also attached great importance to the tourism, commercial and economic potentialityies of Chabahar, saying that the Iranian port is an attractive area in the region for investment.

The Omani diplomat expressed Oman’s readiness to implement phase 2 of Chabahr’s Shahid Beheshti port along with the passenger terminal of Shahid Kalantari Port there.

In the meeting, the managing director of Chabahar Free Zone Abdulrahim Kurdi, for his part, detailed the commercial and trade capabilities and the potentialities of Chabahar Free Zone, stressing that his organization seeks to provide high-quality services to the investors in order to play a positive role in the relations between Iran and Oman.

He further said that Iran-Oman bilateral cooperation plays a positive role in the economic development of the region, adding that the Chabahar Free Zone is ready for more industrial and agricultural investment.

He also emphasized that the talks and relations between Oman and Chabahar Free Zone must become operational.

While in Chabahar, the Omani ambassador along with his accompanying delegation visited the commercial, transit and tourist facilities of the port and the coastal region of Chabahar.

Earlier on November 09, Provincial Director General of Ports and Maritime Organization in Southeastern Iran Behrouz Aqaee announced that more than €30 million has been invested in Chabahar Ports logistics' section since the start of the current Iranian calendar year of 1397 (on march 21, 2018).

The fact that Iran has invested over one billion dollars in the first phase of Shaheed Beheshti Port in Chabahar to construct the infrastructures shows how important the port is, Aqaee said.

He said that transiting 110,000 tons of wheat and grains to Afghanistan was an instance to show the importance of sea transportation, adding that in the five months, Chabahar has transited goods six time what it had transited in the past five years.

Saying that Chabahar Port is known as the Gateway of Nations, Aqaee added that the fact of being exempted from the US sanctions would contribute to the ports progress to be internationally promoted.

On January 07, India’s Shipping Ministry officially announced that the country has officially taken over the operations of strategic Chabahar port during the Trilateral Agreement meeting in the port on December 24.

"The Government of India took over the operations of a part of Shahid Beheshti Port, Chabahar, in Iran during the Chabahar Trilateral Agreement meeting held there on December 24, 2018," the Shipping Ministry said in a statement.

"The physical take-over of the terminal area, cargo handling equipment and Office building was completed by December 29, 2018," the statement said. 

"This step marks the beginning of a long journey. India has written a history with its engagement in Chabahar and is now leading the regional cooperation and joint efforts to support land locked Afghanistan. This is the first time India will be operating a port outside its territories," the Indian government's statement said. 

India started interacting with Iran on Chabahar Port around 2003 but a major push was received in the second half of 2014, resulting in the signing of an MoU between the two countries.

The statement added that the challenges facing the contract between Iran and India were resolved through a formal short term contract between the two sides which was signed on May 6, 2018 during the visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to New Delhi. 

The Indian government's statement came today when the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Tehran for New Delhi for a three-day visit.