India, Iran, Afghanistan to hold talks ahead of NAM summit

[SpArK]

India, Iran, Afghanistan to hold talks ahead of NAM summit


Ahead of the NAM summit, India, Iran and Afghanistan will hold a strategic trilateral meet on Sunday in Tehran in which key issues, including regional security and economic situation and best utilisation of Chabahar port, a significant commercial venture, will be discussed.

The trilateral meeting, to be led by the Deputy Foreign Ministers or Foreign Secretaries of these three countries, will discuss the commercial venture, which is under consideration for some time now, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday.

The meeting, initiated by the Iranian side, will also look into the report by the Indian Ports Association (IPA) on various commercial activities which could be taken up through the port in the sanction-hit country.

“It (report) has a number of different possibilities and we are studying it... The idea is to take forward what we need to do with Chabahar. What is our common interest...,” Mr. Mathai said, while noting the significance of the port and related infrastructure as an alternative route to Afghanistan.

Located in South East Iran, Chabahar port offers tremendous opportunities for trade and commerce for India in Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan, which blocks the country’s land routes.

Iran, which is facing harsh sanctions from the West, is inviting investments for developing the industrial zone.

The trilateral meeting is likely to set up an expert’s group to study the IPA report and other modalities to develop the port.

The issue of security and stability in Afghanistan is also likely to figure in the meet given the fact that Iran is not in favour of presence of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The trilateral meeting is being held ahead of the NAM Summit on Thursday and Friday.

PM to hold talks with Khemani, Ahmadinejad



New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will leave for Iran on August 28 to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, which will be preceded by crucial bilateral talks with Iran's supreme leader Ayotollah Ali Khemani and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A host of meeting with the leaders of other NAM countries, including Pakistan, is also likely to take place on the sidelines of the 16th Summit of 120-nation grouping, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said while briefing reporters here on Prime Minister's four-day Iran visit.



Singh's bilateral meet with Iranian leadership assumes significance as it will take place at a time when the US is pushing India to reduce engagement with Iran and implement sanctions imposed by some countries over its controversial nuclear programme.

"We had indeed proposed to schedule a meeting with Khemani. During the meeting the Prime Minister will raise all issues for India-Iran bilateral relations and issues of interest and concern to us.

"Peace and security is, indeed, our primary concern given just how important the entire West Asia region, Gulf region, in particular, is for India's security and for Indian economy, both in terms of oil imports and our exports.

So, this is our own concern and we don't have to take anybody else is concern...," he said.

 

[Sher Malang]

Iran-Afghanistan-India can make a difference! Iran has already provided many facilities to Afghan businessmen in chabahar port.

 

[Shahin Vatani]

Iran should really strive to help brother nation of Afghanistan's economy.

 

[SpArK]

Chabahar port is the window to the outer world for Afghanistan and Indias window to Central Asia and Afghanistan.

Hope India has finished the road on Afghan side(Zaranj-Delaram) leading to port. ( maybe rail link too).

The port has potential to hold high volumes of traffiC in nearby future.

 

[joekrish]

Good, economic progress is the best progress.

 

[INDIC]

Chabahar port is the window to the outer world for Afghanistan and Indias window to Central Asia and Afghanistan.

Hope India has finished the road on Afghan side(Zaranj-Delaram) leading to port. ( maybe rail link too).

The port has potential to hold high volumes of traffiC in nearby future.

Road is already completed after numerous attacks on construction workers.

 

[SpArK]

Road is already completed after numerous attacks on construction workers.

Brillianto !..

Once trade picks up ....Afghan, Iranian and Indian troops can check all the crazy pests away from infesting the daily affairs.

 

[ajtr]

Iran draws India closer with talks on Afghanistan

NEW DELHI — India, Iran and Afghanistan will hold talks on giving greater access to landlocked Afghanistan, a move that could also ease Iran's isolation in the region, Indian officials said Saturday.

The three countries will meet Sunday to discuss how best to utilize the southeastern Iranian port of Chahbahar and develop road and rail links from there to Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters.

As NATO troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014, India fears the possibility of the country falling into the hands of a Taliban-led regime, thus endangering many of India's interests there.

India has been one of the largest contributors of development aid to Afghanistan. Over the past decade, it has spent more than $2 billion to help build infrastructure, including roads, power projects and hospitals.

For India the shortest and most economical route for sending supplies to Afghanistan would be by road through Pakistan, but its decades-long rival has denied New Delhi road access to Kabul, making the route through Iran all the more significant.

Iran is also hoping to develop an industrial zone near Chahbahar port and wants to attract foreign investment to set up industries there, Mathai said.

The trilateral talks come days ahead of a non-aligned summit meeting hosted by Iran in which leaders of some 120 countries are expected to participate.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will be in Tehran to attend the summit, is to hold bilateral talks with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the sidelines.

India's closer cooperation with Iran will likely offend the United States, which has been pushing the international community to punish Iran over its nuclear program.

India has come under increasing pressure from Washington over its ties with Iran, but New Delhi needs Iranian crude supplies to power its economic growth. Iran supplies about 12 percent of India's energy needs.

India's talks with Iran will explore ways to expand trade to improve the heavily skewed balance of trade between the two countries, Mathai said.

Two-way trade in the last year totaled about $16 billion, of which Indian oil imports from Iran accounted for $13.5 billion.

Mathai said India would accept sanctions imposed by the United Nations, but would not heed those imposed by others, referring to harsher sanctions maintained by the United States and Europe.

India has been gradually cutting its oil imports from Iran, buying more from Iraq and Kuwait. But with nearly 70 percent of its oil consumption supplied by imports, rapid shifts are difficult.

 

[vsdoc]

Its a meeting of great import.

Natural allies who will shape the region in the days to come.

 

[ajtr]

Syria, trade figure in Krishna's talks with Iran counterpart

Ahead of the NAM ministerial meeting, external affairs minister SM Krishna on Monday held bilateral talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi during which the two deliberated on the situation in Syria besides focussing on trade and economy.

Krishna, who landed in Tehran


in the afternoon raised a number of issues pertaining to bilateral relations and NAM, official sources privy to what transpired in the meeting said.
Asked for specifics, they said regional international issues were discussed including the situation in Syria.

Besides, the recently held trilateral meeting of India, Afghanistan and Iran, which was undertaken to brainstorm strategies for operating the crucial Chabahar port, was also discussed.

Meanwhile, the sources said Iran, which is backing the Bashar al-Assad regime despite strong opposition from the US, reiterated its stand on the issue.

Krishna, on his part too maintained India's stand opposing an externally-induced regime change in Syria.

India has maintained that it wants a Syrian-led, inclusive process for reform and change in Syria to bring an end to the current conflict.

India believes that the international community's role should be to assist that Syrian-led process and the UN has a particular role to play.

Krishna and Salehi also focussed on bilateral trade and economy during which payment mechanism was also discussed. The sources, however, did not elaborate further.

The two sides also discussed the modalities for setting up an Indian Cultural Centre in Tehran.

Krishna will take part in the NAM ministerial meeting on Tuesday. Krishna is scheduled to deliver an address at the meeting.

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Chahbahar port: India, Iran, Afghanistan to set up group


Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tehran for the NAM summit, India and Iran have agreed to set up a joint working group along with Afghanistan to discuss the development of the strategically important Chahbahar port in Iran. A trilateral meeting between Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Iran and Afghanistan took place in Tehran on Sunday during which the decision to set up the joint working group was taken.

“The objective of the meeting was to explore ways to expand trade and transit cooperation, including investment, among the three countries starting with the Chahbahar Port. It was agreed that a JWG comprising representatives of the three countries would meet within the next three months at Chahbahar to take the discussions forward. It was agreed that the exact date of the meeting would be decided through diplomatic channels,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Chahbahar port, which has road connectivity to the Afghan border, provides India an alternate route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. Tehran has moved rather slowly on this project despite India having built the Zaranj-Delaram road from the Afghan side of the Iran-Afghanistan border.

However, at a time when its economic health is suffering on account of international sanctions, the necessity to engage India has prodded Iran to move forward.

On Saturday, before he left for Iran, Mathai gave a clear update on the Chahbahar project and underlined why the port remained so important for India. “We have just received a report analysing various options in the light of what Iran plans for the port. It has a number of different possibilities and we are studying it. The Iranians have plans for developing also the rail lines which will go from

Chahbahar not only towards the Afghan border but further to the Turkmen border through Mashaq. All these raise a number of very interesting possibilities in terms of the reconstruction at the industrial developments in Afghanistan in which we have a very large stake,” he said.

Iran is hosting the NAM summit later this week which will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The PM will have bilateral meetings with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

.

 

[kollang]

uh great.this will make our poor sistan and balouchestan province reacher.

 

[Abii]

uh great.this will make our poor sistan and balouchestan province reacher.

I don't mean to sound racist, but it seems they have the same problem as our arab-Iranian brothers: they're backward compared to the rest of the country in terms of letting go of tribalism and secterian mindset. These two groups seem to be the last two remaining nations of Iran that have kept this culture and attitude. Hopefully with time they will get with the program and become urbanized. This can only come with economic development.

 

[indushek]

I don't mean to sound racist, but it seems they have the same problem as our arab-Iranian brothers: they're backward compared to the rest of the country in terms of letting go of tribalism and secterian mindset. These two groups seem to be the last two remaining nations of Iran that have kept this culture and attitude. Hopefully with time they will get with the program and become urbanized. This can only come with economic development.

Is this area a little bit violent? could please explain what u mean by tribalism and sectarian mindset? Are the local people not interested in this venture? I am sure a lot of employment could be generated by this venture. Hope there is no bad feeling in them about this project.

 

[Abii]

Is this area a little bit violent? could please explain what u mean by tribalism and sectarian mindset? Are the local people not interested in this venture? I am sure a lot of employment could be generated by this venture. Hope there is no bad feeling in them about this project.

I actually don't know how tribal they're, but even if they're less tribal then people of neighboring countries, they're still more tribal than the rest of Iran who have completely erased/lost that culture from their lives. In the rest of Iran you're born into a family and your immediate family are your "people." There are no clans, tribes and the rest of that stupid bull **** you see in countries like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. By secterian I mean they're considerably more religous than the rest of Iranians and they're also susceptible to wahabi ideology.

And I don't know what you mean by violent, but there's kidnapping and smuggling operations in the area definitly. Iranians love to travel inside the country and most families always leave their own cities and try to go outside the province during holidays. Baluchistan is the only place in Iran where people don't really go to. It's our forgotten province IMO. We just know Baluchistan exists, but we don't hear much about them.

Some facts about the province of Baluchistan:

- Iran's largest province by size.
- Iran's poorest province.
- They have the highest birth rate at above 3+ children per woman compared to a national average of 1.9 per woman.

And yeah, let's hope this creates employment. The govt is also trying to make things better in the province. I don't understand why they don't promote the province internally to increase internal tourism. They have nice beaches. I'll post some some pics later.

 

[cloud_9]

Hope India has finished the road on Afghan side(Zaranj-Delaram) leading to port. ( maybe rail link too).

The road was handed over in 2009 but there is no security cover provided by ISAF.Attacks by Taliban on the vehicles are frequent and the whole Nimruz province is heavily infested by Talibans

Trucks wait to cross the Afghanistan-Iran border in Zaranj, Afghanistan, May 10, 2011.