TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani began a landmark visit to Indiaon Thursday heading a ranking diplomatic and economic delegation.link>link>link>link>TheIranian president left Tehran for India’s Hyderabad on Thursday morning forthe official 3-day trip aimed at strengthening the bilateral ties andreciprocating a visit two years ago by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rouhani is accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, including ForeignMinister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Ministerof Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Industry, Mineand Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari, as well as top officials of thepresidential office.
Speaking to reporters at the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Rouhani said hewill have meetings with the president and prime minister of India, addingthat a number of cooperation agreements will be also signed between thestate-run sectors, business people and entrepreneurs of the two countries.
Hailing the “age-old” relations between Iran and India that are based oncultural and scientific interaction, the president said he is going toaddress Indian scholars to explicate Iran’s foreign policies and will alsomeet some Muslim clerics of India.
According to Rouhani, negotiations on closer cooperation in the economic,cultural and technological areas, as well as plans on the development ofIran’s southeastern port city of Chabahar, will be on the agenda in theofficial visit, made at the invitation of the Indian premier.
The Iranian president landed in Begumpet Airport of Hyderabad, capital ofIndia’s southern state of Telangana, later in the day.
Indian sources have quoted the South Asian country’s Ministry of ExternalAffairs as saying that Rouhani and Modi will “review the progress achievedin bilateral relations and also exchange views on regional andinternational issues of mutual interest.”
In an official visit to Tehran in May 2016, Modi signed a number ofagreements, and held a meeting with Leader of the Islamic RevolutionAyatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.