Just weeks after visiting Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit its West Asia rival — Iran — on May 22 and 23.
Just weeks after visiting Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit its West Asia rival — Iran — on May 22 and 23. India is dependent on oil from both countries and New Delhi is seeking to strengthen ties with Tehran after lifting of sanctions by the West against the Shia nation. Prime Minister Modi will meet both, the Iranian President and the “Supreme Leader” during his visit.
On Tuesday, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said, “At the invitation of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr Hassan Rouhani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay an official visit to Iran on May 22-23, 2016. During the visit, the Prime Minister will call on the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and will hold talks on a wide range of subjects of mutual interest with President Dr Rouhani. India and Iran share long-standing civilisational ties.”
The MEA added, “Iran is situated in India’s extended neighbourhood and the two countries have significant overlap in their economic and security space. The visit of the Prime Minister to Iran will seek to build on these commonalities by focusing on specific cooperation in regional connectivity and infrastructure, developing energy partnership, boosting bilateral trade, facilitating people-to-people interaction in various spheres and promoting peace and stability in the region. The visit of the Prime Minister will provide a timely thrust to the ongoing efforts of the two countries and their business entities to expand bilateral cooperation and mutually benefit from new opportunities in the wake of lifting of secondary sanctions against Iran earlier this year.”
“We share a very close, historical and civilisational friendship with Iran, a relationship which is in existence for a long period of time. Prime Minister (Modi) had been extended an invitation by President (Hassan) Rouhani when the two had met in Ufa (Russia). The Prime Minister had accepted the invitation in principle,” the MEA spokesperson had said last week. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Tehran last month during which the two sides had agreed to step up engagement in the oil and gas sector. During her visit, President Rouhani had reportedly said his country can be a “reliable partner” for India’s energy needs. Iran had opened several lucrative sectors after sanctions against it were lifted under a historic nuclear deal. There has been a rush for investment in the resource-rich nation by global economic powers, including Japan, China, the US and several European countries, following the lifting of sanctions. India, too, has been eyeing deeper energy ties with that country and has already lined up $20 billion investment in oil and gas, petrochemical and fertiliser projects there.
New Delhi is looking to increase engagement with sanction-free Iran by raising oil imports and possible shipment of natural gas. According to news agency reports, it also wants rights to develop the Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by ONGC Videsh Ltd. Iran is an important country for India for its energy security as well as to get access to oil and gas-rich Central Asian nations.
