india

Updated: Feb 12, 2018 21:21 IST

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani will arrive in India later this week for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian leaders.

“Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will travel to India on February 15,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) said. The visiting leader will deliver a special address at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on Saturday. He will meet Modi on February 17, an Indian official said.

This will be the first visit by Rouhani, who is the seventh President of Iran, after taking charge in August 2013.

During the meetings, Rouhani and Indian leaders will discuss, “the latest regional and global developments and the finalisation and exploitation of Chabahar port as soon as possible that can be very effective for bilateral trade in the region and mutual access of Afghanistan to regional and international markets”, the news agency said.

During Modi’s visit to Iran in 2016, nearly a dozen pacts were signed between the two countries.

The Trilateral Transit Agreement (Chabahar Agreement) was also signed by the three transport ministers of India, Iran and Afghanistan in the presence of Modi, Rouhani and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The contract entails capital investment of $85 million by India for equipping the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran.

According to Indian government data, India-Iran bilateral trade during the fiscal year 2016-17 was $12.89 billion. India imported $10.5 billion worth of goods mainly crude oil and exported commodities worth $2.4 billion.