The minister will leave for Iran on 18 April, where she will attend a Joint Commission meeting.
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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will embark on a two-day visit to Iran on Saturday with an aim to step up engagement in a range of areas including oil and trade as the strategically important Persian Gulf nation is now ready to resume business as usual after lifting of sanctions under a historic nuclear deal.
Grounds are fully prepared for Indian investors to work in Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in Tehran.
Enhancing energy cooperation and development of the Chabahar port were the centerpiece of talks which was mostly dominated by economic issues.
Iran on Sunday said it will be happy to partner India in the refinery sector as New Delhi issued a statement that it will sign an agreement to invest in the Gulf nation’s Chabahar port to boost trade with Afghanistan.
Iran and India are engaged in a giant transportation project that connects the latter to Russian Federation and Europe, using sea and land routes to reduce transport time from 40 days to 14.
Swaraj, for her part, said India is prepared to ease visa requirements for Iranian businessmen. “IRCON from India would be visiting Iran for discussions on the Chabahar-Zahedan Railway link”, said the spokesperson. On Farzad – B, both sides took note of the constructive discussions held during the recent visit to Iran of MoS PNG [Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas].
“On trade and investment, the two sides agreed that with the lifting of sanctions, the potential for expanding these ties was enormous”, he said. He hoped that the Indian government will expedite release of the Iranian prisoners kept in the Indian jails. Sushma, announcing her visit, tweeted that she will raise the issue of the death of two Indian girl students in a Russian medical college hostel fire and of a medical student from Srinagar in a Russian city during her Moscow trip.
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The visit by Swaraj to the oil-rich country comes almost two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Saudi Arabia, another influential country which considers Iran its rival.
