Tehran, May 18: The prevailing world situation calls for close cooperation between India and Iran, Iranian President Mahmdoud Ahmadinejad said. The Iranian President wanted the two nations to be in touch on regional issues.
“Referring to regional situation, the President underlined the desirability (and) need for India and Iran to be in touch (and) to work together.
Iran and India should stay together because of their cultural ties as well as the situation in the region and the world, he told Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on the sidelines of the G-15 meet.
All these call for close cooperation between the two countries, the president said.
“Iran and India should build upon their common views in building up new systems for the future of the world,” the president said.
Both the countries “should not neglect the present opportunities to replace the dying big powers”, he said
Closer ties between Iran and India will benefit other countries as well because Tehran and New Delhi have always sought peace and security for the region and the world, he added.
The Indian minister said Iran and India were two developing countries which had to make the best of their potentials.
Describing the G-15 meeting as “successful and effective”, Krishna appreciated Iran’s efforts for successfully holding the event.
On Monday, Krishna met his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki and discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties.
The summit of G-15, a forum of developing countries, now comprises 18 countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Besides India and Iran, the other members are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Jamaica, Mexico, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
“India has always played an important role in global affairs including NAM and G-15 organisations,” the official said.
Krishna also conveyed the greetings of President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the President, and to the leadership and people of Iran.
“External Affairs Minister congratulated the President and the Iranian Government for the very successful hosting and conduct of the G-15 Summit and excellent arrangements made,” the spokesperson said.
Recalling India’s civilisational links with Iran, Krishna noted that the two nations were neighbours (before India’s partition) and have always been good friends.
Ahmadinejad warmly welcomed the External Affairs Minister and echoed his sentiments, saying India and Iran had joint roots.
He also expressed satisfaction that Indo-Iran Joint Commission would take place shortly which would “give impetus to cooperative and multi-faceted ties”.
The last Joint Commission meeting was held about 18 months ago here and the next meeting is planned in New Delhi.
Iran, he said, was happy to see India’s economic development and progress which was good for the region.
The President requested Krishna to convey his greeting to the President and Prime Minister of India.
Krishna met Iranian speaker Ali Larijani as well. Krishna, however told Larijani that the issue of terrorism remains the core concern of India vis-a-vis Pakistan.
Larijani, on his part, noted that terrorism is a common challenge for both the countries and there is a similarity of outlook.
During their interaction, Krishna also informed Larijani about the two attacks on Indian embassy in Afghanistan.
The External Affairs Minister was assisted by Indian Ambassador to Iran Sanjay Singh, Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) in the Foreign Office Yash Sinha and other officials, while the Iranian team, comprised Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali Fathollahi and Director General of Asian Affiars among others.
Krishna had yesterday met his counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki and discussed bilateral relations and trade ties.
Mottaki said to his Indian counterpart that “after the end of the cold war era the regional groups spent a hag period of relative stagnation for some 15 years”.
“Some people had at that time assumed that unilateralism would replaced the former bipolar world order,” “India can as an influential country play a very decisive role in the region,” he said.
—Agencies