Afghan media hails Chabahar port agreement

Kabul, May 24: The Afghan media on Tuesday lauded the Chabahar port agreement inked in Tehran as a stride towards boosting trade and economic cooperation in the region and improving regional peace and stability.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed the trilateral agreement in Iran's capital of Tehran on Monday to develop Chabahar port and connect India to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Caucasus states, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Inking Chabahar agreement is important for development of trade and economic cooperation and improving peace and security in the region," the Daily Afghanistan newspaper said in its editorial.

The development of Chabahar port will also revive Afghanistan's historic and natural role as a "cross road" connecting Central Asia to South Asia, the daily said.

"Chabahar port will also reduce the dependence of Afghan traders on the Karachi port of Pakistan," the paper explained.

Another paper, the Daily Mandegar, also described the Chabahar port agreement as a milestone for landlocked Afghanistan to reduce its dependence on the Karachi port.

In an article, the paper said Iran has allocated 50 hectares of land to Afghanistan in Chabahar free trade zone and 130 Afghan companies have already registered there.

IANS