TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Iranian Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi hailed a trilateral agreement with India and Afghanistan on the southeastern port city of Chabahar, saying the deal will help develop southeastern parts of Iran.





�The signing of Chabahar agreement will have a strategic role in and impact on (development of) the country�s southeastern region as well as relations with countries to the east and southeast of Iran,� Akhoundi said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Monday night.

�The agreement will speed up the development of Chabahar port and have a special impact on trade exchanges among Iran, India, Afghanistan and central Asian countries,� he said.

Iran, India and Afghanistan inked the trilateral agreement to establish an international transit corridor, passing through Chabahar.

The deal was signed by the road ministers of the three countries at a ceremony in Tehran on Monday, attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.

The agreement is aimed at bringing about a considerable increase in transit via Chabahar, linking India to central Asia via Afghanistan, and helping Afghanistan have access to the sea.

In 2003, Iran and India agreed to develop the Port of Chabahar.

The project was, however, suspended following the imposition of sanctions against Iran over Tehran�s nuclear program.

In May 2014, India and Iran signed an MoU to jointly develop the port once the international sanctions against Iran were terminated. Sanctions against Iran were lifted after Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on January 16 started implementing a nuclear agreement they had finalized on June 14, 2015.

The Chabahar route will allow Indian goods to reach Afghanistan via the Iranian port of Chabahar without crossing Pakistan�s territory.

Chabahar is located in the Gulf of Oman on the border with Pakistan. It is the closest and best access point of Iran to the Indian Ocean and Iran has devised serious plans to turn it into a transit hub for immediate access to markets in the northern part of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.

By Tasnim News Agency