Hassan Rouhani in India LIVE UPDATES: Iran President meets with PM Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. (Source: Express photo by Praveen Jain)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held “substantive and productive” talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to boost cooperation in areas of defence and security, trade and investment, and energy. They also deliberated on regional situations in their wide-ranging talks.
Rouhani, who is on a three-day visit to India, arrived in New Delhi Friday night after spending two days in Hyderabad. Earlier in the day, Rouhani met PM Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind and inspected guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He also paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. This is Rouhani’s first visit to India after he was elected Iran’s President in 2013. Rouhani chose to begin his three-day visit from Hyderabad as the city has a long history of cultural and religious ties with Iran.
The Iranian president visited the tombs of Qutub Shahi rulers in Hyderabad’s Golconda area. He addressed Muslim intellectuals, religious scholars and students at an interaction held at a hotel in the city. India and Iran have robust economic and commercial ties covering many sectors though it has traditionally been dominated by the import of Iranian crude oil by India, which continued to engage with Iran at the time of sanctions. See latest photos
Hassan Rouhani in India Highlights:
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Iranian President Rouhani gifted an animated version of Kalila Wa Demna to PM Modi on his visit to India.
The two nations signed key agreements on extradition, agriculture, medicine among others.
The two countries to boost cooperation in key areas of security, trade and energy. Nine pacts inked which includes one on double taxation avoidance. PM Modi appreciated the way the Iranian leader provided leadership in developing strategically-important Chabahar Port.
Rouhani said, "We share views on two crucial issues - transit and economy. We want to develop railway relations between the two countries and are seeing the development of Chabahar Port."
Hassan Rouhani said, "The kindness accorded to us by the great govt of India, I once again thank the people and the govt of India for this. The relations between the two countries goes beyond trade and business, it goes back in history."
PM Modi and Hassan Rouhani also issued joint postal stamp.
Thanking Rouhani for providing leadership in developing Chabahar port, PM Modi said, "I travelled to Tehran in 2016 and now when you come here now, it deepens and strengthens our relationships. I thank you for the way you provided leadership in developing Chabahar Port.
He also said, "The two countries want to see our neighbour Afghanistan safe and prosper. We want to see our neighbours free of terrorism."
MoUs exchanged between India and Iran in the presence of Narendra Modi and Hassan Rouhani
PM Modi held "substantive and productive" talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to boost cooperation in areas of defence and security, trade and investment, and energy. They also deliberated on regional situations in their wide-ranging talks.
Delegation-level talks between India and Iran is underway at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
In the process, he dealt a blow to recent efforts at strengthening ties between India and Iran, which had seen a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in Jakarta in 1992 and, in the following year, the first visit to Iran by an Indian Prime Minister after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. In March 1994, Iran blocked a consensus against India on Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Commission.
On a visit to India in August 1994, Hassan Rouhani, then Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (effectively the National Security Adviser), spoke about the treatment of minorities, including, according to some accounts, their “persecution” in the wake of the Babri demolition. He recognised the Hurriyat Conference as “true representatives” of Kashmiris.
The Trilateral Transit Agreement (Chabahar Agreement) was also signed by transport ministers of India, Iran and Afghanistan in the presence of Modi, Rouhani and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The contract entails capital investment of USD 85 million by India for equipping Chabahar port in southeastern Iran. According to the external affairs ministry, India-Iran bilateral trade during the fiscal year 2016-17 was USD 12.89 billion. India imported USD 10.5 billion worth of goods, mainly crude oil, and exported commodities worth USD 2.4 billion.
Rouhani is accompanied by 21 delegates. Last time, he had come to India as the national security adviser to Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami, when they visited India from January 24-28, 2003 as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade and had met then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
New Delhi views the Chabahar port project as a strategic response to China’s development of the Gwadar port in Pakistan, and its aggressive pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative. It is also key to accessing the Central Asian markets for Indian goods. Rouhani had said that the inauguration of the port marked a “historic” day for Iran, particularly for the people of Chabahar. He had also emphasised that the project was specifically important, given that it connects the trade corridors that pass through Iran to the sea route.
Rouhani arrived in India on February 15. He started his visit from Hyderabad, where he addressed a gathering of Muslim intellectuals and clerics. On February 16, he addressed the weekly congregation at the city’s historic Mecca Masjid after offering Friday prayers.
Ooperationalisation of the Chabahar port, which is strategically located in Iran and gives India access to landlocked Afghanistan, is on the top of the agenda. India hosting Rouhani, and its commitment to push forward the Chabahar project, will also test the country’s bilateral ties with the US, which, under the Donald Trump administration, has threatened to impose sanctions on Iran.
Rouhani’s visit, exactly a month after Netanyahu’s, is seen as India’s act of balancing the relationship in the west Asian region. Iran and Israel have a strained relationship, but since India has “strategic interests” with both countries, government officials had earlier said that New Delhi needs to carefully balance bilateral ties with both.
Iran President Hassan Rouhani is in New Delhi today. He will hold talks with PM Modi on several issues. Stay tuned to our live blog for latest updates.