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The agreements come in the face of the sanctions
against Iran, with India saying that while it
expected Iran to abide by its international commitments
on nuclear energy, economic cooperation between
the two neighbours was necessary due to their
age-old ties.
The two countries signed the agreements during
the periodic two-day meeting of the Indo-Iran
Joint Commission here July 9th. External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna represented India and Finance
Minister Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini represented
Iran.
Strife-torn Afghanistan figured in the discussions
between the two countries and both of them agreed
on cooperative measures to help stabilize the
situation there.
India has committed more than Dollars one billion
on reconstruction programmes like roads and hospitals
in Afghanistan, its direct neighbour before the
creation of Pakistan in 1947. Most of the Indian
equipment and construction material reaches Afghanistan
through Iran.
The two countries identified infrastructure,
oil, gas, petrochemicals, mining, transport, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, textiles and agriculture for
cooperation.
It may be noted that the Joint Commission meeting
was preceded by a statement by India’s Foreign
Secretary, Ms Nirupama Rao, expressing concern
over what she called "unilateral sanctions"
imposed by individual countries against Iran.
These could hurt several Indian companies and
India's energy security.
Iran is India’s second biggest supplier
of oil.
"Iran is a country extremely important to
India from the perspective of energy security...
India has repeatedly made clear the fact that
accessing energy resources from all parts of the
world is absolutely critical to the continued
growth of its economy and Iran has the potential
to play an important role in this regard,"
Rao had said at a conference on Indo-Iran relations
at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
(IDSA) preceding the ministerial meeting.
As yet, one Indo-Iran joint venture in shipping,
has been hit by the sanctions and India will have
to use other ships to ferry oil from Iran.
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