Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Iran on Sunday, May 22, 2016. The two-day visit provides 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.”
Modi will meet the ‘Supreme Leader’ Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani on bilateral, regional and international matters. For India, Iran and Afghanistan are a part of its extended neighbourhood.
Marking the visit India will sign a trilateral trade treaty with Iran and Afghanistan for Chabahar, which was finalised during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s trip to Tehran last month.
Amongst other issues that figure on Modi – Rouhani agenda are schedule and channel for repayment of $6.5 billion in unpaid Indian dues for Iranian oil, a Memorandum of Understanding on developing the Chabahar port project, India’s stake in the Farzad-B oilfields, and investments from Indian companies in the Chabahar Free Trade Zone.
“The visit of Prime Minister to Iran will seek to build on these commonalities by focussing 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,” a Foreign Office Press release said.