India may host investors' summit to attract funds for Chabahar

NEW DELHI: A major economic summit will likely be held in India within the next two months to attract investment from across the globe for the strategic Chabahar port in Iran which would give India access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan, Afghan Ambassador to New Delhi said today.

Referring to the meeting between Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi and Afghanistan's Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Mohamadullah Batash on Wednesday, Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said its purpose was to expedite the implementation of the Chabahar transit and trade agreement and there were some "very good decisions" taken within that framework.

"We are going to address some of the technical issues involved in the Chabahar agreement and within the next two months we will -- in India or Iran, but more likely India -- call a major economic summit where all the industries will participate from India, Afghanistan, Iran and from beyond," the Abdali told reporters here at The Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia.

Abdali said the ministers met in order to deal with the technical issues that are still left to be addressed and the decision was made that India, Afghanistan and Iran will have a secretariat each to deal with those.