TEHRAN, May 18 (MNA) – Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, will visit Tehran in the near future for the signing of a trilateral MoU with Iran and India, an informed source at Iran’s Embassy in Kabul said on Wednesday.


The anonymous source at Iran’s Embassy in Kabul said the exact date of President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to Iran has not been yet determined, but since schedules have been set so as to have both President Ghani and Prime Minister Modi of India simultaneously in Tehran for the signing of a trilateral MoU regarding Iran's Chabahar Port, it is likely that Ghani’s visit will take place some time in late May.

This will be President Ghani’s second visit to Iran since he took office 20 months ago. The Afghan President made his first visit to Iran on 21 March, 2015, where the two countries stressed cooperation in executing bilateral and multilateral projects with regional countries, particularly India, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and put special emphasis on the significance of Chabahar Port trilateral agreement for Iran, Afghanistan and India.

Under the agreement which was finalized in April, India will be allowed access to Afghanistan via the strategically located Iranian port of Chabahar, which sits on the Gulf of Oman. The Chabahar route to Afghanistan will allow Indian goods to reach Afghanistan without having to first bypass Pakistan, which has a limited trade relationship with New Delhi due to diplomatic tensions and a territorial dispute between the two countries.

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the agreement “will be a strategic bulwark for greater flow of people and goods among the three countries, as well as in the region.”

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, will visit Iran on 22-23 May at the official invitation of President Rouhani.

By Mehr News Agency