New Delhi
5 November 2009
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will visit India on 16 and 17
November for talks with Minister of External Affairs SM Krishna. Mr Mottaki is also likely
to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is set to meet US President Barack
Obama a week later in Washington.
India and Iran are expected to discuss bilateral issues such as energy and trade. Both
sides are expected to exchange views on the Iran - Pakistan - India (IPI) gas pipeline
project.
Iran has indicated that it cannot wait forever for India to make up her mind on whether to
participate in the IPI project or not. For his part, Mr Krishna told this newspaper in a
recent interview that India remains interested in the project.
Bilateral cooperation in oil and gas sector and on the IPI project will be further discussed
in the Joint Working Group on Oil and Gas, which is likely to be convened this year.
Regional issues such as Afghanistan also will be on the table. India and Iran are
involved in undertaking infrastructure development projects in Afghanistan. In the past,
the Indo-Iranian cooperation in stabilising Afghanistan has paid dividends for India in
Tajikistan, a Persian-speaking Central Asian republic bordering Afghanistan.
In a regional context, there is scope for trilateral cooperation between Iran, Russia and
India in energy security, economic issues, and other projects such as the North -- South
Corridor, which can be helpful to countries in West Asia and beyond.
India, like Russia and China, favours negotiations over sanctions in dealing with the
Iranian nuclear issue. Russia has said that threatening Iran with new sanctions would be
counterproductive. China has said that Beijing will maintain high-level contacts with Iran
and it will seek closer coordination in international affairs with Tehran.
India's vacillation on the IPI project has had an adverse impact on the Indian companies'
attempts to develop Iranian oil and gas assets. Already, China National Petroleum
Corporation has bested the ONGC -- Hinduja consortium in clinching a deal for the South
Azadegan oilfield, and Angola has edged India out for a stake in the South Pars-12
oilfield.
According to reports, many Chinese firms operate in Iran, largely helping with
infrastructure projects. Despite the sanctions already in place, two-way trade between
China and Iran grew 35 per cent in 2008, to 27 billion dollars. China has also signed an
estimated 120 billion dollars worth of oil deals with Iran over the past five years.
No comments:
Post a Comment