Indo –Iran Relations in Asian Era

(April 30, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) “We do not think so. We do not think that (a) these are the hyphenated relationships; (b) there is anything that we are doing with Iran which should worry anybody else. Everything we do with Iran is open, above board and quite clear to everybody. I do not see why that should worry anybody. Frankly, from our point of view the more engagement there is, the more Iran becomes a factor of stability in the region, the better it is for us all,” Indian Foreign Secretary, Shri Shivshankar Menon told the Media persons on yesterday when he met Iranian President Dr. Mehmoud Ahmedinejad. ( Images: The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Mehmoud Ahmedinejad, in New Delhi on April 29, 2008.)

Here full text of the briefing by Mr. Menon on the President’s visit.

Official Spokesperson (Shri Navtej Sarna): Good evening. We have been waiting for the Foreign Secretary. He has come straight from the talks with President Ahmadinejad. I would request the FS to brief you.

Foreign Secretary (Shri Shivshankar Menon): What I will do is I will just run over what happened and then maybe answer any questions you might have. As you know, President Ahmadinejad stopped over in New Delhi on his way home from Sri Lanka where he paid an official visit. He was in Sri Lanka yesterday and most of today. He came in the afternoon after four; he called on the President at six; and then met with the Prime Minister from about 6:45 onwards. They had a meeting which was followed straight by dinner which the Prime Minister offered to him. This went till about 9:45. So, I come straight to you from there.

They used the occasion to discuss bilateral relations, where to take the relationship, the various big issues in the relationship including our economic, commercial relations, energy, the Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline, trade. They also discussed regional issues, the situation in the region, in West Asia, in Afghanistan. As I said, they had three hours of talks, went into some detail. They had a very good exchange of views.

On the bilateral relationship, both sides expressed satisfaction on the fact that it was moving forward. We did about 10 billion dollars worth of trade last year - most of it is oil-related. Therefore, we both agreed there is a need to diversify that part of the relationship.

There was a discussion on the natural gas pipeline, on how to take it forward. From our point of view, most important is to construct an economically, commercially viable project, to have assured supplies, and to ensure the security of supply in various ways. Discussions will continue. They both agreed that the officials would continue to discuss how to craft such a project which would meet the various criteria that we have mentioned.

On trade, there was a feeling that we could do more. President Ahmadinejad mentioned and Prime Minister agreed that we might try for a target of 30 billion dollars, in other words tripling the trade in the next few years.

We are working towards a Joint Commission meeting later this year. It is due. We are hoping that many of the economic and commercial and other ideas that were discussed will bear fruit by then and we will do the work, prepare them and have them ready for the Joint Commission around the middle of the year.

They also discussed Chabahar Port, the railway up to the border with Afghanistan which would give us another means of transit to Afghanistan and Central Asia. We have done the Zaranj-Delaram road within Afghanistan which would connect to the Iranian border which is, you remember, at some cost in terms of lives. In fact, two Indians were killed there a few weeks ago. We talked of the importance of that, of carrying those projects forward, doing them quickly, as quickly as possible.

Overall, there was satisfaction on the bilateral relationship. There was a discussion on ways to push forward, to move things forward in various projects and to see how to build the economic and trade relationship.

On the regional issues, there was a discussion on Afghanistan; a slightly longer discussion on the situation in the Middle-East and in Iraq. It was basically an exchange of views where we discussed what could happen with the Middle-East peace process. Our interest is clearly in a peaceful resolution of the issues in West Asia. We have big stakes, not just in terms of energy but in terms of four and a half million Indians working in the area. As a source of remittances, as a source of trade, we have big stakes in peaceful transitions in these areas.

On Iran nuclear issue, President Ahmadinejad briefed PM. There was a short discussion on it. Our approach is quite clear. We have said that Iran has the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy for fulfilling her various obligations and that the right way to do that is through the IAEA, to assure the world that she is fulfilling her obligations.

That is what I have in my list. But you are free to ask about any other aspects that you would like to.

Question: Does this meeting tonight mark a significant shift in relationship after the vote at the IAEA and launching of the Israeli spy satellite to monitor Iran? Do you see this as a shift by India in its relationship with Iran back to how it traditionally had been?

Foreign Secretary: We do not see it as a shift at all. In fact, we see it as continuation of a process that has been going on for some time. All the things I mentioned in this list, the trade, pipeline, Chabahar Port development, these are all issues that we have discussed before. We have been trying to move forward exchanging views on issues like this. We have a regular series of exchanges with Iran. We have foreign office consultations. I was there in January. They have been here. In fact, my counterpart has been here twice in the last six months to exchange views on these issues. So, we really see it as a continuation of that. The External Affairs Minister visited Teheran last year, in 2007. We think this is really a continuation of what we have been doing. He happened to be in the region, he is passing through and took the opportunity to exchange views and have a discussion at that level.

Question: Your counterparts in Washington had some suggestions on what they would like you to discuss with Iranian President. Was that at all talked about this evening? What was said?

Foreign Secretary: I am not quite sure what …

Question: You clearly said you discussed the issue of West Asia, you discussed the nuclear programme of Iran.

Foreign Secretary: I will tell you what we think on each of these things, if you want. But I do not see the connection with what was said in Washington.

Question: Did you talk to him in the way that Washington wanted you to talk to him?

Foreign Secretary: I wouldn’t know; you would have to ask Washington. We cannot speak for them.

Question: When is the next meeting likely to be? You said that you want to carry it forward.

Foreign Secretary: For the pipeline we have asked the officials to carry on the discussions as soon as possible. Since we have had a series of bilateral discussions with Pakistan, we had discussions with Iran; the next logical step would be for the officials of the three countries to discuss the same issues. Let us see whether we can set that up. For the other issues, I think many of them will be done. The economic, commercial issues will be done before the Joint Commission meeting in the middle of the year. We have not set dates for the Joint Commission but we agreed that it would be roughly in the middle of the year. So, we will set the meetings up in the next months.

Question: Did President Ahmadinejad raise the issue of this whole Israeli satellite that was launched by India?

Foreign Secretary: He did not.

Question: As far as the 2005 LNG deal is concerned, was there any formula … And about the pipeline deal …

Foreign Secretary: On the LNG deal I think there are contacts going on between petroleum officials on both sides to see how we can implement the agreement that we did reach in 2005. I think many of the conditions of the agreement have changed since. So, there is a negotiation on whether or not and how we can implement that. We would like to see it implemented. Obviously, we need all the LNG we can get. But it did not come up at this level because that is going on and it is a fairly smooth process.

On the pipeline, I think the significance is really that at this level we have had a discussion where it is quite clear that it is much more than just a commercial project to build a pipeline. I think we need to see it also in terms of its potential as a confidence-building measure between the three countries. Therefore, we need to do things, find ways of assuring supply in all circumstances. After all, this is a pipeline that hopefully will last for forty years. There will be several Governments, all kinds of situations. So, assured supply, security of the pipeline apart from making it commercially and economically viable for everyone, that is where …

Question: Did he talk about the pricing at all?

Foreign Secretary: Price is only one small part of all this. When I say you need to assure all this, I think it is more than just a commercial deal and we need to talk about all these aspects. The officials, therefore, have a very clear directive of what they need to discuss.

Question: Did the President ask India to play any role in terms of defusing tensions between Iran and the US?

Foreign Secretary: No.

Question: Did the Israeli raid on Syria come up for discussion?

Foreign Secretary: No.

Question: And Lebanon?

Foreign Secretary: Lebanon was mentioned in general terms, in terms of how the situation in Lebanon is and how we would like it to evolve, just as the situation in Gaza was mentioned also and the need for that to be ameliorated. But, not as specifically as what to do.

Question: I rethought my question. I have got a better one.

Foreign Secretary: Okay, lets try again.

Question: Do you worry about having a closer relationship with Iran will undermine your closer relationship with the United States?

Foreign Secretary: We do not think so. We do not think that (a) these are the hyphenated relationships; (b) there is anything that we are doing with Iran which should worry anybody else. Everything we do with Iran is open, above board and quite clear to everybody. I do not see why that should worry anybody. Frankly, from our point of view the more engagement there is, the more Iran becomes a factor of stability in the region, the better it is for us all.

Question: Iran and Pakistan are thinking of including China in the pipeline project. Did that come up for discussion with President of Iran?

Foreign Secretary: Not directly. What we have been discussing is on Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. I know China has been mentioned but quite frankly I think that is still an idea. The pre-feasibility study which was the basis of what the officials have been doing so far is really for the three countries. But as I said, still there is still a lot of work to be done on this, on its commercial viability, on its routing, on all the details of it.

Question: You talked of tripling of trade in the next few years. Do you have a date for that, like 2010 or 2015?

Foreign Secretary: They did not set a date. They just said they have to do it as quickly as possible; and they thought it was possible to triple it very quickly.

Question: Both Iran and Pakistan have agreed to sign the deal on the pipeline on a mutually acceptable date. What are India’s concerns on this? Have we conveyed to Iran any concerns?

Foreign Secretary: We have no concerns about whatever they might have. Ultimately it is a pipeline that all three countries need to do together. As I have said, our concerns or our interest in this are quite clear. We would like an economically, commercially viable and assured source of supply which is secure. Whether you set a date, whether you talk, how you do it, those are the mechanics of how you arrive at that goal. For us the important thing is that whatever project is at the end has to meet these criteria, And we think it is doable, if we can work together at it.

Question: Before the deal is sealed we are going to have more talks with the three sides, Pakistan, India and Iran.

Foreign Secretary: That is what I said that we will now talk about it.

Question: Are there any plans for launching an Iranian satellite by the Indian Space agency?

Foreign Secretary: They have not asked, but we will be ready to.

Question: What did the President say when India asked him for assured gas supply?

Foreign Secretary: He said yes. I think that is our common goal. We all want to do that. He also is saying that this will be an assured source of supply, that we need to work it so that it is.

Question: So, you have an assurance.

Foreign Secretary: I assume, yes.

Question: Did the India-US civil nuke deal come up in the talks?Foreign Secretary: No, I am afraid not. I am so sorry to disappoint you.

Question: On Sarabjeet, Nawaz Sharief said that he recommends a swap…. Foreign Secretary: He has not said any such thing to us yet. Frankly, we would hope that they would exercise clemency on humanitarian grounds and let this poor man come home. But it is their process and they have to make the decisions.

Question: Any talk on crude price and the fact that India’s …

Foreign Secretary: There was general talk of the effect of high energy prices, crude prices, food security issues, worldwide credit, subprime and its effects, or the effects that these are having on developing countries. There was a general discussion on that. But it was not about India’s responsibility or short supply. It was not that sort of discussion.

Question: About Nepal, what is your comment about Communists’ plan to abolish the 1950 treaty?

Foreign Secretary: We have said consistently for many years now that we would be quite happy to discuss with Nepal new arrangements to govern the relationship. We have held discussions with Nepal in the past with previous Governments. In 1994, I remember participating in discussions with Nepal on how to either modernize or upgrade or replace the 1950 treaty. We are quite happy to do that exercise. We like the fact that everybody who has spoken about it recently has spoken about replacing it or changing it in order to bring the relationship to a new and higher level. I think that is always a good ambition, and we will be happy to work with Nepal to that end.
- Sri Lanka Guardian