Indian FM due in Tehran for joint commission meeting

The meeting will be co-chaired by Jaishankar and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

During the visit, the Indian diplomat is expected to hold separate talks with Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani.

Jaishankar’s visit comes days after a US department official said that Washington has provided an exemption to India from sanctions on the Chabahar project which is envisaged to help transport Indian goods to landlocked Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the second meeting of the follow-up committee for the implementation of the trilateral Chabahar Agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan at the level of Joint Secretary/Director-General was held on Friday.

It was in 2003 that India first proposed developing the Chabahar Port seen as a gateway for the country to access the landlocked markets of Afghanistan and Central Asia, as New Delhi’s tense ties with Pakistan blocked overland trade through Pakistan.

Iran, India and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement on the development of Chabahar Port in Tehran in May 2016 to establish a strategic transit and transport route connecting the three countries.

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