A first: Indian wheat in Afghan city via Chabahar

New Delhi, November 11

In a significant sign of trilateral cooperation, the first consignment of wheat from India to Afghanistan, that was flagged off by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani on October 29, reached the Afghan city of Zaranj near the Iran-Afghanistan border on Saturday via the Iranian port of Chabahar, thereby bypassing Pakistan.

Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra said pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani decorated Zaranj as the shipment arrived.

The shipment to Afghanistan comes in the wake of Ghani’s one-day visit to India on October 24. India is a major development aid partner for strife-torn Afghanistan.

The shipment is part of a commitment made by India to supply 1.1 million tonnes of wheat for the people of Afghanistan on a grant basis.

This is the first shipment to reach Afghanistan via Chabahar after trilateral agreement to develop the port as a transport and transit corridor between India, Iran and Afghanistan was signed by PM Modi with Iranian and Afghan Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Ashraf Ghani in May last year. — IANS