- International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe.
Commonwealth of Independent States
– CIS was established in 1991 to ensure continued cooperation in trade and military policy and recognition of borders between the States which formed part of the erstwhile USSR (except Baltic States).
– It has no formal political institution. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
– Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan fall in Asia and are commonly known as Central Asian Republics (CAR).
- The primary goal of INSTC is to enhance connectivity and promote trade and economic cooperation among these regions.
- India aims to make Chabahar Port a transit hub under the INSTC to reach out to CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries.
- India will reportedly sign an agreement with Iran to manage the strategic Chabahar Port for the next 10 years.
- This is the first time India will take over the management of an overseas port. A pact regarding the port was earlier signed in 2016 when Indian Prime Minister visited Iran.
- For India, Chabahar held immense strategic and economic significance, as it provided a route to reach Afghanistan — land access to which had been blocked by a hostile Pakistan.
- While India spent about $100 million to construct a 218-km road from Delaram in western Afghanistan to Zaranj on the Iran-Afghan border to link with Chabahar, the port project itself progressed at a glacial pace.
Dig Deeper: India-Iran trade and geo-strategic relations and IPI pipeline.
