PM meets Iranian President Raisi; discuss Chabahar port, Afghanistan

Samarkand, Sep 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for the first time in-person on the sidelines of the SCO summit here and the two leaders discussed wide-ranging bilateral ties, reviewed the progress in the development of Chabahar Port and regional developments including Afghanistan.

The two leaders are in this historic Uzbek city of Samarkand to attend the 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit SCO summit.

"Held wide-ranging discussions with President Ebrahim Raisi. We talked about the growing India-Iran friendship and the scope to boost ties in sectors like energy, commerce and connectivity," Modi tweeted after the meeting. Iran has been a key country for India in the Gulf region.

"Productive first meeting between PM @narendramodi and President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran. Discussed our wide-ranging bilateral relations and reviewed the progress in the development of Chabahar Port. Also discussed international and regional developments including Afghanistan," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.

Briefing reporters later, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that Prime Minister Modi congratulated the Iranian President as this was their first in-person meeting.

During the meeting, they had assessment of full range of things that the two countries can do in the field of trade, investment and entire range of economic cooperation, including energy cooperation, Kwatra said. He said the Chabahar port has been one of the important pillars of India-Iran engagement and there is a need to expedite its growth so that it can serve as an important transit point for a larger connectivity.

On his part, President Raisi briefed the prime minister about the ongoing talks on the Iranian nuclear program, Kwatra said. India and Iran have been jointly focusing on improving connectivity between South East Asia and Central Asia. India has been projecting Iran's Chabahar Port as a key regional transit hub including Afghanistan.

Located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran's southern coast, the Chabahar port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost connectivity and trade ties. India has been in touch with Iran over the developments in Afghanistan as well following its takeover by the Taliban on August 15 last year.

Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, focusing on bilateral cooperation, and the Iran nuclear deal.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, was finalised in 2015 between Tehran and several world powers including the European Union. It was aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. The US had withdrawn from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. There have been fresh efforts now to restore the deal.