TEHRAN — Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the inclusion of Iran in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will benefit the entire region.

In a statement on Friday, Qureshi said that the region can also greatly benefit from the stability and enduring peace in war-torn Afghanistan, Geo News reported.

It came three days after Tehran reportedly dropped New Delhi from the Chabahar rail project.

It emerged earlier this week that the Iranian government has decided to go ahead with the rail line project from the Chahbahar port to Zahedan on its own, four years after it inked a deal with New Delhi to begin this project along the border of Afghanistan.

The Iranian government has cited a delay in funding from the Indian side to initiate the 628km-long project as the reason for it dropping India from the multi-million-dollar project.

The decision comes in the backdrop of China finalizing a huge strategic partnership with Iran.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on June 23 that Iran and China have drafted a 25-year plan for the comprehensive partnership which proves failure of the plots to isolate the Islamic Republic.

“This plan proves failure of the United States’ policies to isolate Iran, sever Iran’s relations with the international community and also to harm Iran’s will to expand relations with other countries,” Rabiei said during a press conference.

He said that the plan is based on a win-win approach which “heralds long term cooperation”.

“Recognizing cultural commonalities, encouraging multilateralism, supporting equal rights of the nations, and insisting on domestic development are parts of this plan,” the government spokesman explained.

In a commentary on July 17, European Council on Foreign Relations said Iran’s rumored talks with China on a partnership agreement could have significant economic benefits and provide it with valuable geopolitical bargaining chips.

It also said both Iran and China stand to gain from a formal and long-term framework that organizes their bilateral relations. 

MH/PA