TEHRAN, Iran: President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday signed 12 cooperation agreements including a tripartite pact to turn Iranian southeastern port of Chabahar into a transit hub between Iran, India and Afghanistan.
“Chabahar can become a very big symbol of co-operation between Iran and India,” Rouhani said in a joint press conference along with Modi after the signing of agreements in Tehran.
“The Chabahar port can serve as a point of connectivity between different countries, specially India and Afghanistan,” Rouhani said.
The Chabahar port will be a game changer for regional connectivity, especially for Afghanistan which can find an assured and reliable alternative access to India via sea.
The route will also significantly enhance prospects for India’s connectivity with Afghanistan, Central Asia and beyond through synergies with other initiatives touching the region such as North-South transport corridor.
The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also arrived in Tehran on Monday to join Rouhani and Modi in signing the trilateral agreement.
In his remarks at the press conference, Narendra Modi described the agreement as a ‘key milestone’, adding that India will provide $500 million to develop Chabahar port.
“The outcomes and agreements signed today open a new chapter in our strategic partnership,” Modi said referring to bilateral relations between India and Iran.
“India and Iran are not new friends. Our dosti is as old as history,” Modi added.
Earlier in a meeting, Hassan Rouhani and Narendra Modi exchanged views on Indo-Iranian ties, the emerging regional situation and global issues of common concern.
The two leaders decided to expand and upgrade relations between India and Iran from mere trade partners.
“The two countries’ economic relations could be much broader than the past, and today the administrative officials of the two countries decided that the bilateral ties turn into comprehensive economic relations from mutual trade ties,” Rouhani told the press conference.
“Iran-India relations have always been of significance and today these ties can serve the interests of the two nations and the whole region,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani further said that terrorism was a big challenge in the region and that India and Iran will also expand intelligence sharing in the fight against terrorism.
For his part, the Indian prime minister praised Iran’s strategic role in fighting terrorism and in establishing stability in the region, calling for more cooperation to build a world free of violence.
Being the first Indian prime minister to visit Iran in the last 15 years, Narendra Modi reached Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit, seeking to further cement India-Iran relations and explore avenues to bolster trade in a big way in the wake of lifting of sanctions against Iran.
“Enhancing connectivity, trade, investments, energy partnership, culture and people to people contacts would be our priority,” Modi wrote on his Twitter account on the eve of his visit to Iran.
