Old friends: on India-Iran bilateral ties

Old friends: on India-Iran bilateral ties

Context:

• In bilateral terms, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to India was perfect in content.

Major takeaways from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to India:

• The visit came amid uncertainty over the U.S.’s next move on Iran, given the Trump administration’s line on the Iran nuclear deal.
• After his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India and Iran signed agreements and memorandums of understanding on a wide variety of issues.
• Among the announcements was the decision to award India the contract to operate the ChabaharShahid Beheshti port terminal after the project is completed.
• No announcement was made on the Farzad-B gas field that India has expressed an interest in, the joint statement indicates that positive deliberations may follow.
• There were discussions on enhancing trade and investment and ease of doing business between India and Iran.
• The discussion also included a double taxation avoidance agreement and an expert group to recommend trade remedy measures.
• India announced that it would allow Indian investment in Iran to be done in rupee terms.
• The two leaders also drew broad strokes highlighting the importance of bilateral ties between the two countries, stressing the strategic imperative for their growth.
• Iran endorsed India’s bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council with the veto, and praised India as a “living museum of religious diversity”.
• The joint statement issued contained tough language on the “sanctuaries for terrorism”, an issue important to both countries.

Way ahead:

• It will be important to see what, if any, implications the Indian overtures would have on India’s ties with the U.S. and its recently upgraded relations with Israel.
• However, it is crucial that India maintain a steady course on its strategic interests with Iran.