Maritime India Summit 2021
- Recently the Maritime India Summit 2021 (MIS) was held in virtual format, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 2 March.
- A participant from Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Armenia including India has taken part in it.
- The Maritime India Summit is being organized with the objective of advancing India in the global maritime sector.
Key Points:
The following proposals regarding ‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ were made by India at the Maritime India Summit.
- In the ‘International North-South Transport Corridor'(INSTC), the ‘Chabahar Port’ port project should be included.
- Its membership should be expanded to include Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in the INSTC project.
- It was also attended by maritime experts such as sector experts, policy planners, senior government officials, shipping line owners, domestic and international investors, and representatives from major ports from many parts of the world.
- The summit also hosted a forum for interaction and cooperation with Indian and international ports, shipping and maritime companies and investors.
Background:
- Russia, Iran and India signed the agreement for the International North-South Transport Corridor Project on 16 May Russia, India and Iran are the founding member countries of the project.
- Its current member countries are India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Bulgaria as an observer.
‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ (INSTC):
- The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight.
- This corridor will connect the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran and then, through Russia, to northern Europe.
- A survey by the Federation of Freight Forwarders Association of India states that compared to the existing route, INSTC will be 30 percent cheaper and 40 percent shorter route.
- Under this, rail routes to Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia will also be added. The commencement of this corridor will boost trade between Russia, Iran, Central Asia, India and Europe and save time and cost in movement of goods.
- It will also align with the ‘Ashgabat Agreement’, an international transport and transit corridor for freight transportation to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, which is a multipurpose transport agreement signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Source – Indian Express
