Iran on Saturday joined hands with India to promote connectivity through the port of Chabahar and asked the United States to respect territorial sovereignty.
Welcoming the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged for closer cooperation in the fields of energy, banking and countering terrorism.
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“On important bilateral and international issues, we have no divergence. Today, we discussed our agreements and the future course of action on Chabahar and India’s contribution to the Chabahar-Zahedan railways,” said President Rouhani in his speech at the end of bilateral talks with Prime Minister Modi and official delegates.
Both sides agreed on making transit and trade the core of bilateral ties and emphasised the role of Chabahar in serving as a door to the landlocked Afghanistan.
Mr. Modi described Chabahar as the “golden gateway to Afghanistan and the Central Asian region.”
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Expressing a common resolve to go ahead with developing the area around the port of Chabahar, a joint statement at the end of the visit said, “The Iranian side welcomed the investment of the Indian side in setting up plants in sectors such as fertilizers, petrochemicals and metallurgy in the Chabahar FTZ.”
“Might is not the criterion to be right as there are other criteria also. Our destiny was in the hands of the U.S. for a long period of time,” said President Rouhani, addressing the Observer Research Foundation. “The U.S. made a promise to us and they have broken it. If it violates this agreement (n-deal), you will see it will regret it,” he added.
In order to simplify trade and banking practices between the two sides, the joint statement informed that, “permission for the Iranian Pasargad bank to open a branch in India was under advance consideration.”
Both sides have also agreed to set up a Joint Committee of officials to examine feasible options including a rupee-rial arrangement to avoid hindrances in bilateral commercial mechanism.
As part of security-related issues, both sides discussed the wars in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and expressed a common resolve to counter terrorism.
“They urged an immediate end to all support and sanctuaries enjoyed by terrorist groups and individuals and were of the view that States that aid, abet and directly or indirectly support terrorism should be condemned,” said the joint statement.
However, MEA officials maintained that the issue of former Indian Navy official Kulbhushan Jadhav who India said was kidnapped by Pakistani agents from the Iranian territory did not figure in the official discussions.
President Rouhani came out in full support of India’s role at the United Nations and said New Delhi should have a permanent membership at the Security Council.
“At the time of formation of the UN, only countries that had a nuclear bomb had the right to veto. If it was based on fairness, it would not have been so. Foreign policy is based on power. The question is what is the meaning of this veto power? Why does India not have a veto power? It’s not based on fairness and is based only on might is right”, said President Rouhani at the public lecture.