India and Uzbekistan to direct trade flows through Chabahar
India and Uzbekistan intend to route their trade through the Iranian seaport of Chabahar. This was discussed at the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Qingdao on the sidelines of the SCO summit. Certain connectivity projects were also discussed between the two sides and about how these could be linked to the port of Chabahar in Iran in an effort to strengthen connectivity between Indian and Central Asia, the press briefing of the foreign ministry of India noted. This topic will be discussed in detail at the Indian-Uzbek summit talks, to be held at the end of this year in Delhi. One look at the geographical map is enough to understand that the most logistically efficient route for Uzbek cargo flows, which can rush to Chabahar, lies through Turkmenistan. Moreover, the legal framework for such cargo transportation already exists – this is the Ashgabat agreement on the creation of an international transit-transport corridor Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman. India also became an official party to the agreement in February this year. Thus, the scheme of routing trade through Chabahar, planned by Tashkent and Delhi, can play in favor of the increasing role of Turkmenistan as a major crossroads of transport routes in the Eurasian space.
