Following concerns about the possibility of Iran’s Chabahar port being subjected to new US sanctions, the foreign ministers of Iran and India have emphasized the continuation of their decade-long cooperation in this area.
Some Iranian media outlets have quoted Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi as saying: “Iran is committed to multilateralism and economic and security cooperation in the region; however, there is a significant challenge. Some extra-regional powers are attempting to exploit political, economic, and security gaps in the region and affect the natural cooperation between regional countries.”
At the same time, trade relations between Afghanistan and Iran have expanded over the past three years.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, trade between Afghanistan and Iran reached a value of $2.736 billion in just the first ten months of the current solar year.
Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said: “Most of Afghanistan’s exports to Iran include mineral stones, raisins, lead ingots, non-alcoholic beverages, frozen vegetables, and mung beans, while imports include diesel fuel, petrol, raw materials for factories, liquefied gas, vehicle parts, and machinery.”
Meanwhile, some economic experts consider Iran one of Afghanistan’s key trade partners and view the expansion of trade and economic relations with Iran as beneficial for Afghanistan’s economic growth.
“When political tensions arise between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Chabahar port can be an option that connects us to international waters and enables trade with most countries around the world,” said Abdul Zuhoor Mudaber, an economic analyst.
Meanwhile, Iran’s managing director of Anzali free trade zone organization Reza Masroor, said on Sunday that over the past ten months, more than $500 million has been invested in Iran’s free and special economic zones by investors from Arab countries, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, with some Afghan investors applying to invest in the free zones of Sistan, Chabahar, and Dogharoon.
