Jaishankar receives call from Iranian Foreign Minister
Sep 04, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 4 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday spoke to his Iranian counterpart H Amirabdollahian and discussed bilateral cooperation and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said, "Received a call from FM @Amirabdolahian of Iran. Discussed our bilateral cooperation and JCPOA. Look forward to remaining in touch."
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is also known as the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
India-Iran relations span millennia marked by meaningful interactions. Since the diplomatic relationship has been established in 1950 with the friendship treaty, the visits of the ministerial level have increased.
Iran's then Foreign Minister Javad Zarif participated in the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi from 14-17 January 2020 and had meetings with Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on the sidelines. He also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the visit.
The two countries have in place several Bilateral Consultative Mechanisms at various levels which meet regularly. These include the Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) chaired at the Ministerial level, the Foreign Office Consultations chaired at the Foreign Secretary level and the Joint Consular Committee Meeting at the level of Joint Secretary/DG.
India-Iran commercial ties were traditionally dominated by the Indian import of Iranian crude oil. In 2018-19 India imported USD 12.11 billion worth of crude oil from Iran. However, following the end of the Significant Reduction Exemption (SRE) period on 2 May 2019, India has suspended importing crude from Iran. The bilateral trade during 2019-20 was USD 4.77 billion, a decrease of 71.99 per cent as compared to the trade of USD 17.03 billion from 2018-19.
What is significant is that Indian exports to Iran between 2011-12 and 2019-20 have grown by 45.60 per cent. India's major exports to Iran include rice, tea, sugar, soya, medicines/pharmaceuticals, man-made staple fibres, electrical machinery, etc.
Major imports from Iran include inorganic/organic chemicals, fertilizers, cement clinkers, fruits and nuts, leather, etc. Both countries are negotiating a Preferential Trade Agreement, on which five rounds of talks on have been held so far.
India is developing the 1st Phase of Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar. The capacity of the port will reach 8.5 MT at the end of the first phase. During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Tehran in May 2016, the contract on the Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar was signed which, inter-alia, comprises an investment of $85 million for procuring equipment for the port.
