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Journalism of Courage
Chabahars strategic significance for India cannot be overstated. Delhi must move quickly
The idea of developing the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran as a regional commercial hub is a decade old. It was first discussed when former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami came to New Delhi in January 2003. While it is a mark of the political dithering in Delhi and Tehran that serious talks on the project could begin only about 10 years later,the recent Chinese offer of a 60 million euro credit line to Iran as reported in this paper close to the prospective Indian investment in Chabahar,and presumably a precursor to a Chinese bid may have brought Indias effort close to its day of reckoning.
While Iran can benefit by turning Chabahar into a logistical hub,Tehrans compulsion is also its need to mitigate the economic impact of Western sanctions against its nuclear programme. That very factor,however,has made it difficult for Delhi to work with Tehran without offending Washington. Still,the biggest impediments have been Irans unease in opening its territory to the easy movement of goods and Indias unimpressive record in executing mega projects abroad. Its time for the shipping ministry to deliver,so that this line on the map becomes a real transit corridor.
