After Modi’s visit, Iran Prez in India today

Smita Sharma

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 14

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Hassan Rouhani arrives in India on Thursday on a state visit. His first stop will be in Hyderabad where he will address the Friday prayer congregation at the Makkah Masjid with Islamic scholars and clerics in attendance.

He is also expected to visit historic sites, including the Qutub Shahi Tombs at Golconda in Hyderabad. Rouhani will be accorded a ceremonial reception on Saturday before he holds official talks with PM Narendra Modi in Delhi. He will later deliver a special address at an event organised by think tank Observer Research Foundation. He will also interact with the Iranian community in Hyderabad and Delhi.

Announcing the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “Both sides will review the progress achieved in bilateral relations and also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.”

Rouhani’s visit comes close on the heels of Modi’s visit to West Asia, including Palestine, and months after his tour to Israel followed by his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu’s state visit to India in January this year.

The visit also comes at a time when Tehran remains under pressure with US President Donald Trump keen to pull out of the historic nuclear deal that has had an impact on India’s development of two berths at the Chabahar port project.

India is committed to equip and operate two berths in Chabahar in Iran on a 10-year lease plan with an investment of more than $85 million. India recently shipped containers of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar, located around 72 km from Gwadar port in Pakistan being developed by China.

While India has announced operationalisation of the port project by December this year, it has moved slowly on other commitments, including petrochemical plants, railway lines in the area with western banks and equipment supply firms hesitant to join hands due to looming shadow of possible US-led sanctions on Iran.

In a national day speech last week, Iranian envoy Gholam Reza Ansari advocated connectivity projects to promote bilateral ties and regional prosperity. The issue of delay in awarding contract to Indian firms to develop a major gas field Farzad B in the Persian Gulf is expected to figure in talks along with a focus on counter-terrorism, radicalisation and regional security. Modi had paid a state visit to Iran in May 2016.