India expects to secure a “long-term arrangement” with Iran on the management of the Iranian port of Chabahar, New Delhi’s foreign minister said on Monday, as the country’s shipping minister left to visit Iran, Reuters has reported.

According to The Iran Project, part of the port in Chabahar on Iran’s south-east coast on the Gulf of Oman has already been developed by India as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing Karachi and Gwadar in its regional rival Pakistan. US sanctions on Iran, however, have slowed the port’s development.

“As and when a long-term arrangement is concluded, it will clear the pathway for bigger investments to be made in the port,” Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told reporters in Mumbai.

He said that his cabinet colleague, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, is travelling to Iran. A source close to the shipping ministry said Sonowal is expected to witness the signing of a “crucial contract” that would ensure a long-term lease of the port to India.

The contract will likely be for 10 years and will give India management control over a part of the port, the Economic Times reported earlier in the day, citing unidentified sources.