Tasnim – An international conference on the development of Iran’s southeastern port city of Chabahar got under way in the strategic city on Tuesday with representatives of 35 countries in attendance.

The international conference was opened with the aim of tapping the capacities of Chabahar in line with the efforts to boost the country’s economy and attract private and public sectors’ investments in maritime and port areas.

More than 110 domestic and foreign officials, including Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami, are present at the conference.

Eslami on Monday inaugurated 13 peices of strategic port equipment valued at about $13 million. They have been manufactured inside the country with the cooperation of a German company.

Chabahar 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.

The governments of Iran, Afghanistan, and India in May 2016 signed the Chabahar Agreement, which is a regional transport network initiative.

It aims to create a reliable transport corridor for the smooth transport and transit of goods and services through Chabahar Port between the three countries.