EAM to visit Iran on February 6-7

New Delhi, Feb 01 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will pay an official visit to Iran on February 6-7 as part of the regular process of high-level exchanges between the two countries, the External Affairs Ministry announced here today.

This will be his first visit to Iran after becoming the External Affairs Minister.

During the two-day visit, he will call on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders.

On February 7, he will hold discussions with his counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki who had visited India on November 16-17, 2006.

The entire gamut of bilateral relations, the multi-billion Dollar Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project and the Iranian nuclear issue are expected to come up during the discussions.

''Mr Mukherjee's visit is part of the regular process of high-level exchanges between the two countries,'' an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said.

Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahamed, had visited Tehran last year after India voted against Iran in the Internaional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Iranian nuclear issue in October 2005.

A two-day tripartite meeting between officials of India, Iran and Pakistan was held in the Iranian capital on January 24-25 to reach an agreement on pricing formula of the seven billion dollar gas pipeline project.

Sources said the three countries had agreed over a price formula for the gas to be delivered to India from Iran through a 2700 km pipeline via Pakistan.

Iran will export 90-million cubic metres of natural gas to Pakistan and another 60-million cubic metres to India a day via Pakistan.

UNI