Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi met with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the 8th Indian Ocean Conference in the Omani capital of Muscat. He mentioned the “successful” holding of the 19th round of political consultations between Iran and India, in the Indian capital New Delhi in January, and emphasized the necessity of continuing close consultations and discussions between the two countries.
He affirmed Iran’s good neighborliness policy and noted that Tehran attaches special importance to the expansion of all-out ties with regional countries, particularly the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean littoral states.
Araqchi expressed hope that the ongoing meeting, co-hosted by India and Oman, would successfully achieve its goals of developing partnership and cooperation among the countries of the Indian Ocean region. The Indian foreign minister, for his part, hoped that the Muscat meeting would enhance ties among regional countries, particularly Iran and India. The Iranian and Indian foreign ministers also discussed ways to boost mutual relations in various political, cultural, economic, and commercial fields as well as regional and international issues, particularly the situation in Afghanistan.
Back in May, the two countries signed a 10-year contract for the operation and equipment of the southern Iranian port city of Chabahar as part of plans to further boost their bilateral trade and economic relations. Under the agreement, Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) will hand over parts of the freight and container terminals of the Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar to India for 10 years while India invests $120 million for the supply of strategic equipment of the Port and $250 million on the transport infrastructure of Chabahar.
