Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will visit Iran from May 3-5 to attend the 17th India-Iran Joint Commission meeting.
During this three day visit, he will co-chair the meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, and is likely to meet senior officials and the political leadership of the country.
Both sides will review bilateral relations, and are also expected to discuss the upgradation of Iran’s Chahbahar port (located roughly 80 kilometers west of Pakistan’s Gwadar Post, which is operated by a Chinese company) – which gives India access to Afghanistan. Also on the agenda is the signing of three Memorandums of Understandings in water resources and diplomat training.
Following the meeting, Khurshid will proceed to inaugurate the Indian Cultural Centre in Tehran.
This round of meetings will take place almost three years after the 16th Joint Commission meeting took place, in July 2010.
India and Iran share strong cultural and economic ties. Both countries shared a border until 1947, and following India’s partition, diplomatic links were established in 1950. Bilateral trade between the two nations stood at $ 15.94 billion in 2011-12. However, recent economic sanctions imposed on Iran have had an adverse effect on the bilateral trade as the international banking channels have gradually become non-existent.