India-Iran Exploring New Strategies Of Cooperation

-
The sixteenth round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Iran was held in Tehran this week in the backdrop of an extremely worrisome regional scenario caught up in strategic disarray. India’s Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale led the Indian delegation while Iranian side was led by its’ Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Seyyed Abbas Araghchi. Mr. Gokhale also held discussions with Dr. Javad Zarif, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati, Senior Advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. 

Both sides re-assessed the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation including ongoing connectivity and infrastructure development projects like development of Shahid Behesthi Port, Chabahar and full operationalization of the Trilateral Transit Agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, regional issues were also discussed. The two sides expressed their commitment to maintain the momentum of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation and exchanges between the two countries. It was decided that the next round of Joint Commission Meeting at the level of Foreign Minister would be held at an early date in Iran. 

The Foreign Office Consultations need to be analysed in the context of India’s decision to stop importing oil from Iran since May 2019 after Washington refused to extend the six months waiver. Iranian Ambassador to India, Ali Chegeni noted while Turkey, Russia and China continued their energy ties with Iran, India decided otherwise. It is important to note that while India did stop importing oil temporarily from Iran, it continued its engagement with Tehran in other areas. In fact India’s strategic relations with Iran go beyond the oil trade. 

The two countries are continuing their engagement and consultation on Afghanistan. India is also exploring ways to enhance the economic and trade ties with Iran. During the recent India-Russia Summit both New Delhi and Moscow have agreed to continue their trade and economic cooperation with Iran termed as “mutually beneficial and legitimate”. India is also committed to taking forward cooperation during 7th meeting of the International North South Transit Corridor’s (INSTC) coordination council meeting held in March 2019. 

Escalating tensions between Iran and the United States since May this year have definitely exposed once again India and Iran to a new set of challenges; India is exploring ways to see how best the energy ties with Iran can be restored through other means. Iran was until 2006 India’s second-largest supplier of crude oil. But it dropped to number seven by the end of 2013-14. However, India continued to be Iran’s second-largest buyer, next only to China until India stopped importing oil from Iran in May. Iran’s importance as a stable supplier of energy can’t be ignored. 

Significantly, Iran’s regional importance for India as gateway to Eurasia, its growing role and leverage in West Asia and Afghanistan necessitate the urgency on part of New Delhi to enhance its engagement with Iran. India needs Iran both for its connectivity projects INSTC and Chabahar, support and engagement in Afghanistan and its cooperation to maintain balanced ties with China, Russia, Central Asian Republics and other regional actors. Geo-politically the realignment of regional players like Iran–China-Russia; Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan-China and Russia demand India’s continued engagement with Iran. 

A new chapter of cooperation was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Iran visit in May 2016 when the leadership of both countries agreed to develop an all-out comprehensive strategic economic cooperation with focus on infrastructure development, trade, economic and energy cooperation and cementing the politico-strategic dimension of Indo-Iranian relations. This got further impetus during President Hassan Rouhani’s three-day visit to India in February 2018 and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visit to India in January this year. 

Present diplomatic activism reflected in the Foreign Secretary led consultations which is to be followed by an expected visit of India’s External Affairs Minister to Tehran clearly highlight the Modi government’s desire to explore new strategies of cooperation with Iran regardless of increasing pressure from the Trump administration to isolate Iran. Mitigating hostility and regional dialogue is likely to deliver better results not only for the US and Iran but for the large international and regional community as well. 

Script: Dr. Meena Singh Roy, Strategic Analyst on Russia, CIS & West Asia 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Data Darbar Suicide Attack

-
The deadly attack on the famous Sufi shrine Data Darbar in Lahore on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan that killed 10 and injured more than 25 people is yet another ghastly reminder that Pakistan still shelters terrorist groups that have now come to haunt its own State. The suicide bombing was apparently targeted towards the elite security force that was assigned to guard the Shrine as the inflow of devotees increase during Ramadan. This is not the first time a Sufi Shrine was targeted by terrorists in Pakistan. Many Shrines like Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Baba Farid in Pakpattan and Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi were attacked in the past. The Sufi nature of these shrines has made them an easy target of the terrorist groups that consider Sufis to be heretics. The terror organisations within Pakistan such as the Pakistan Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Hizbul Ahrar (said to be a splinter faction of the local Taliban) that took responsibility for the latest bombings in
Read more

US Needs To Relook Into Talks With The Taliban

-
The US has deviated from its resolve to root out terrorism in any form. From July last year it has entered into a dialogue with Taliban. The sixth round of these talks began in Doha, Qatar last week and is still underway. The talks have not yielded any result so far. US Special Envoy for the talks, Zalmay Khalilzad is reported to have said that the talks revolve around withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, guarantees against terrorism, ensuring negotiations between Taliban and Afghanistan government for initiation of political settlement and a lasting cease fire. Direct involvement of US in Afghanistan dates back seventeen years to September 2001; when terrorists attacked twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Following this, America had declared a war against terrorism. It vowed to punish Al Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden, whom it considered to be behind the attacks on American soil. It also declared to root out Taliban from Afghanistan for providing safe
Read more

India To Roll Out The World’s Biggest Covid19 Vaccination Drive

-
India will begin inoculating its 1.3 billion population against coronavirus starting January 16, in one of the world’s massive rollouts. The first phase of this daunting and complex task will cover 30 million frontline and health workers. This will be followed by the vaccination of 270 million people above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities or with high risk of infection. The aim is to vaccinate 300 million, equal almost to the entire US population, by July. This will be an unprecedented scale of immunisation. From developing, manufacturing to becoming a key supplier, India will play a crucial role in the global immunisation programme with two “Made in India” vaccines—Covaxin and Covishield. Covaxin, India’s first indigenous vaccine against Covid 19, is manufactured by the Hyderabad-based pharma company Bharat Biotech. The second, Covishield, was developed jointly by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and is manufactured by the Serum Institute of Ind
Read more