Page 46 - IRANRptMar21

Iran’s Chabahar FTZ ‘to emerge as steel and petrochemical hub driven by oceanic port development’
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan to ‘revive a rail line with eye on Chinese Belt and Road potential’
means it is now also possible to transport freight between Turkey and Afghanistan, via Iran.
The railroad administrations of Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan are to meet in coming months to set conditions for the use of that link for rail transit between the three countries.
Chabahar Free Trade Zone (FTZ), with Iran’s sole oceanic port of Chabahar at its heart, will become a steel and petrochemical production hub given its emerging strategic importance, according to the FTZ director Abdulrahim Kordi, as reported by Mehr news agency.
Chabahar is one of seven designated Iranian FTZs. India and Iran are jointly developing its Gulf of Oman port, along with rail and road corridors running in and out of it, as a nexus for trade routes linking from Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia to destinations, particularly India, across the Indian Ocean. Given its importance to the economic development of conflict-torn Afghanistan, the development of Chabahar enjoys a waiver from US sanctions.
The FTZ in Chabahar would boast Iran’s third petrochemicals hub and play a major steelmaking role, Kordi added.
Located on the Makran Coast of the Sistan and Baluchestan province, Chabahar is Iran’s southernmost city and has an area of 17,155 square kilometres.
It is bordered by Bampour, Rask and Sarbaz in the north, the Gulf of Oman in the south, Pakistan in the east and Jask and Minab ports in the west.
Not far across the Pakistani border is the port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. China and Pakistan are developing Gwadar as a rival port to Chabahar that can also be utilised as an export-import facilitator by Central Asian countries.
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan intend to revive a railway route connecting Istanbul to Islamabad via Tehran, Nikkei Asia has reported.
The three countries launched a container service on the line 12 years ago but it did not get beyond test runs. However, they are now reportedly willing to launch the 6,524-kilometre Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) railroad—including passenger services—with the aim of enhancing connectivity with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for trade and investment infrastructure. The route would connect with services from Pakistan to China’s Xinjiang autonomous region.
A journey along the entire length of the ITI would take 10 days compared to the usual 21 days needed to travel by sea between Turkey and Pakistan.
If Iran cannot come to an arrangement with the incoming Joe Biden administration for the lifting of the Donald Trump-era heavy sanctions against Tehran, it could look to rapidly build up trade and investment with China. Iran and China in the past year have continued to draft details of a proposed $400bn strategic deal under which the Chinese would invest in the resource-rich Islamic Republic—in sectors including oil, gas, petrochemicals, manufacturing and transport—and would be repaid with discounted oil. Part of the agreement could see Chinese products made in Iranian factories with low labour costs for shipping to European markets.
Some analysts predict that if Iran can come to an agreement with Biden, it will stop short of signing such a huge deal with the Chinese in favour of opening up trade and investment potential with an array of countries.
46​ IRAN Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com