Saturday, Jan 25, 2003
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By C. Raja Mohan
The Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade, being welcomed on his arrival at the Palam Air Force station in New Delhi on Friday by the Minister of State for External Affairs, Digvijay Singh. — Photo: V. Sudershan
Capitals in the region are closely monitoring the cooperation between India and Iran, which has the potential to alter the geopolitics in their shared neighbourhood. The political cooperation between the two countries has rapidly expanded since the mid-1990s as they found common interests in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Building on that political convergence, India and Iran are now considering joint infrastructure projects that give India vital access to the Eurasian heartland. For India, Iran is emerging as the highway to strategic regions in inner Asia. The joint development of transport corridors with India will allow Iran to underline its claim as the natural gateway between Eurasia and the Indian Ocean littoral. Mr. Khatami, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations, will hold substantive consultations with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and interact with other leaders, businessmen and intelligentsia in the next few days. He will also travel to Hyderabad. In a special gesture, Mr. Vajpayee, who had visited Iran in April 2001, hosted a private dinner for Mr. Khatami. He will receive a ceremonial welcome on Saturday morning. The Iranian President is accompanied by a powerful delegation that includes the Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, the Defence Minister, Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, the Oil Minister, Bijan Zangneh, and the Minister of Science and Technology, Mostafa Moeen. A number of agreements for cooperation have been finalised. These touch on information technology, water resources and the financing of economic cooperation. The unfolding military confrontation between the United States and Iraq, in which Iran holds the pivot, is expected to figure prominently in the talks between Mr. Khatami and the Indian leaders. The two sides will also review progress in the efforts to bring the abundant natural gas resources of Iran to the energy-hungry Indian market. A Joint Technical Committee is evaluating various options to move natural gas between the two nations. The studies are expected to be completed before the year-end.
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