Pranab Mukherjee on two day visit to Iran

New Delhi, Feb 4: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be in Iran on February 6 and 7 to underscore bilateral ties despite India's vote against Tehran's nuclear programme and also discuss the pricing of gas through a seven billion dollars tri-nation gas pipeline project.

The visit by Mr Mukherjee, closely watched by the United States, will be the first since New Delhi voted against the Iranian nuclear programme twice at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the past 18 months.

Previous External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh was the last Indian foreign minister to visit Tehran in September 2005.

The US had enacted a law last month to open the doors of global nuclear commerce with India in return for New Delhi placing 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors under international safeguards. The US also expects cooperation with Washington on isolating and dissuading Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

Also on the agenda will be the pricing of gas through a 7 billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India tri-nation pipeline that will help facilitate the supply of Iranian gas via Pakistan to India.

The three countries are said to have agreed on a pricing formula of the Iranian gas - a subject of intense negotiations for the past few months - at a meeting in Tehran last month.

Mr Mukherjee is also expected to discuss with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki the security situation in Afghanistan.

Mr Mukherjee's trip to Tehran comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the Iranian issue was also discussed. The two countries agreed to cooperate to find 'an effective solution' to the Iranian nuclear standoff through 'political and diplomatic efforts.' The Iranian nuclear issue will figure at a meeting of Indian, Russian and Chinese foreign ministers later this month in New Delhi after Mr Mukherjee returns from Tehran.

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.

''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 a day to India via Islamabad.

UNI