New Delhi - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday
held talks with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on major
energy projects including finalizing a 7.5 billion dollar gas
pipeline despite opposition from the United States.
The Iranian leader met with his Indian counterpart Pratibha Patil
soon after his arrival in New Delhi for a five-hour visit that would
wrap up a regional tour that included Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Singh and Ahmadinejad later began talks on a wide gamut of
bilateral, regional and global issues, Indian foreign ministry
officials said.
The focus of the talks was on multi-billion dollar energy deals,
officials said, adding that the two sides were reviewing the progress
on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline as well as the bilateral
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project.
The IPI project was first conceptualized by officials from both
sides in 1989. The talks began in 1994, but were delayed by tensions
between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan and later
disagreements over cost factors.
During talks in Pakistan on Monday, Ahmadinejad had discussed all
hurdles concerning the gas pipeline to India and agreed to sign a
deal soon. The work on the 2,600-kilometre pipeline from Iran's South
Pars gasfield is now slated to start in 2009.
Besides the IPI pipeline, Singh and Ahmadinejad were also expected
to discuss a 22 billion-dollar LNG deal, which was signed during
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's visit to India in 2003.
New Delhi is expected to press Iran to honour the agreement which
could not be implemented so far because of differences in the cost of
gas. Under the deal, India was to get five million tons of LNG a year
for the next 25 years.
The situation in connection with the stand-off between Iran and
the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme could also
come up for discussion between the leaders.
Other areas for talks include stability in Afghanistan, counter-
terrorism and economic and strategic interests in Central Asia, as
both countries are observers in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO), officials said.
India and Iran have concluded talks to construct a rail link
between Chahbahar (in south-eastern Iran) and the Iranian port of
Fahraj, local media reports said.
The two countries are also planning to co-operate in the
development of a North-South rail corridor connecting India and Iran
to Russia.
Ahmadinejad's brief visit to India comes against the backdrop of a
chill in bilateral relations over the past two years since India
sided with the US to vote against Iran at the IAEA.
Both India and Iran, which have enjoyed traditionally strong ties,
with strategic convergence in areas such as Afghanistan now appear
keen to mend their ties.
According to Indian analysts, New Delhi has come under pressure
from Washington to withdraw from the IPI project as the US believes
it would help strengthen Indian-Iranian relations and nullify its
efforts to isolate Tehran.
But with the India-US nuclear deal in limbo due to opposition from
the Indian government's communist partners, India is keen to secure
hydro-carbon sources to meet its burgeoning energy demand.
It recently spurned advice from the US to use its influence and
ask Iran to suspend its alleged uranium enrichment activities. New
Delhi said it was for the IAEA and not the US to decide whether Iran
was making nuclear weapons.
'India and Iran are ancient civilizations whose relations span
centuries,' a statement from India's Foreign Office said, adding,
'Neither country needs any guidance on the future conduct of
bilateral relations.'
'Ahmadinejad's visit is an opportunity for India at course
correction and put its relations with Iran back on solid footing
after the vote against Iran at the IAEA,' Qamar Agha, an Iran
specialist who has taught in various Indian universities told the
IANS news agency.
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