Through the Chabahar port in Iran, India has directly received its first batch of commodities-20 containers of Afghan dry fruits-from Afghanistan. The consignment arrived in Mumbai on ships over the last weekend. This was a success of cooperation between India, Iran and Afghanistan. The sea route is an alternative to the Karachi port in Pakistan.
Indian importers chose dry fruits to import from Iran since the business community wanted to test the waters with the goods not perishable.
For the past few months, the Indian embassies in Kabul and Tehran had been working closely with the Afghanistan and Iran governments to ensure the shipment goes through the Iranian port. India has opted the Iranian port route as an alternative to the Karachi port where export activities are constantly interrupted by political restrictions and high storage cost.