TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Road and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi announced that Tehran and New Delhi have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pave the ground for India's 195-mln-dollar investment in Iran to develop the Southeastern port city of Chabahar.

"The MoU that we signed has two parts; the first part is related to the equipment and development of phase one of Chabahar port and the Indians have taken up to invest $85mln for equipping Chabahar port in phase one," Akhoundi said after inking the MoU in Tehran on Thursday.

"Based on the other parts of the MoU, the Indian side has also voiced preparedness for investing $110mln to develop other phases of Chabahar port," he added.

Outgoing Indian Ambassador to Tehran DP Serio Stava in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in April had announced that the country's Road, Transportation and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari is due to visit Iran to ink an MoU on the development of the port city of Chabahar.

He also underlined the Indian companies' increased partnership in economic plans in Iran, including petrochemical production.

Merely 72 km West of China-developed Gwadar port in Pakistan�s restive province of Baluchistan, Chabahar, on the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, provides India a land-sea access route into Afghanistan and Central Asia through the Bandar Abbas-Caspian Sea axis.

India�s development of Chabahar port has been hanging fire since 2003.

By Fars News Agency