Iran, India ink economic co-op agreement, Chabahar Port in focus

December 30, 2015 - 0:0

TEHRAN - With the signing of the comprehensive economic cooperation document by Iranian and Indian high-ranking officials, India will invest $85 million in Iran’s southeastern port of Chabahar, the Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.


The agreement was inked by Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday in New Delhi at the Iran-India trade cooperation commission.

In addition to the port project, the signed document will include cooperation in various fields, including energy, trade, infrastructure, banking, insurance, hygiene, tourism, as well as trade.

Also, according to the agreement, India will offer Iran a credit line, invest in the country’s petrochemical sector and downstream oil industry, and participation in the construction of Chabahar-Zahedan railroad.

On November 19, Indian Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said Iran and India are serious for the expansion of bilateral trade ties. 

She made the remarks after signing an agreement with Trade Promotion Organization of Iran’s Director Valiollah Afkhami-Rad on the promotion of Iran-India trade cooperation.  

The Indian official stated that Iran and India are two large and important countries in the region and given their potentialities, they could bolster bilateral economic and trade ties in a short period of time.  

She evaluated the prospect of trade relation between Iran and India as very good and expressed hope that this agreement would strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.  

India was the fourth major importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, with importing $2.441 billion of non-oil goods from Iran and exporting $3.729 billion of non-oil products to Iran. 

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CAP: Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia (left) and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj (right) signed an agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation in New Delhi on December 28.