Iranian Foreign Minister to visit India

NEW DELHI: India is hosting Iranian foreign minister M Javad Zarif next week, eyeing to safeguard its energy and financial interests in West Asia amid the escalating US-Iran conflict.
Zarif will also be a key speaker at India’s premier foreign policy event — Raisina Dialogue — which could be his first address from an international forum after the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Last month, Zarif hosted Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar in Tehran and later met him at the Oman-Iran-India trilateral in Muscat.

On Sunday night Jaishankar reviewed the regional situation with Zarif, in what was the first contact at a Ministerial level between the two sides after a US airstrike killed Soleimani. “Just concluded a conversation with FM @JZarif of Iran. Noted that developments have taken a very serious turn. India remains deeply concerned about the levels of tension. We agreed to remain in touch,” Jaishankar tweeted.


In recent months, India has sought to expand security and economic partnership with Iran simultaneously with other powers in the Gulf region. Stabilising Straits of Hormuz is imperative for energy imports by India, officials here said. During Jaishankar’s visit to Tehran, days after a trip to Washington, the two sides without naming Pakistan shared concerns over threats posed by terrorism and called for an immediate end to all support to terror sanctuaries.

It was agreed to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bilateral Treaty of Friendship in 2020. In this context, both sides would promote exchanges between parliamentarians, organise cultural festivals, promote people-to-people contact and youth exchanges. The two sides also hope to hold an early meeting of the Joint Working Group on Trade and to finalise a Preferential Trade Agreement and Bilateral Investment Treaty, and promote cooperation in customs matters.