NEW DELHI: To attract investment from across the globe for the strategic Chabahar port in Iran which would give India access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan, a major economic summit has been proposed by the year end.
Afghan Ambassador to New Delhi Shaida Abdali said on Friday after meeting between Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Earleir on Wednesday, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi and Afghanistan’s Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Mohamadullah Batash met Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The meeting focused on measures to expedite the implementation of the Chabahar transit and trade agreement and there were some “very good decisions” taken within that framework.
“We are going to address some of the technical issues involved in the Chabahar agreement and within the next two months we will -- in India or Iran, but more likely India --call a major economic summit where all the industries will participate from India, Afghanistan, Iran and from beyond,” said Abdali.
He said, the ministers discussed technical issues and have decided to set up a secretariat each in India, Afghanistan and Iran to deal with those.
“Within a month, the three secretariats will meet again and procedures to invest will be made clear. We will be fully ready for foreign investers...to start business,” he said.
He said, the ambitious project, will not just concentrate on the three countries business and economic relations but will also involve and engage all other neighbouring countries, especially those in Central Asia and South Asia.