July 28, 2020: Iran has claimed that it has a balanced foreign policy approach vis-a-vis both China and India, clarifying that it is not favouring Beijing at the cost of Delhi, ahead of the next meet on the proposed bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) this week.
The comments were made by the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson who tried to clear the air about the recent “controversy” over Iran’s growing closeness to China at the cost of India. “#Iran has a longstanding policy of maintaining balanced, friendly relations w/ all Eurasian & E/S Asian powers. Our potential longterm cooperation agreements w/ #China & #Russia, & our continued joint work w/ #India in Chabahar prove this.
We are determined to uphold this policy,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson tweeted on This comes amid firefighting by India and Iran over the past two weeks over Delhi’s participation in the proposed Chabahar-Zahedan railway project.
Last Monday, Iranian deputy minister and head of Iranian railways Saeed Rasouli, met Indian Ambassador in Tehran to discuss the issue. India’s problem with Iran was its insistence to give the Chahbahar-Zahedan railway contract to Khatam al-Anbiya, a Revolutionary Guard entity, under US secondary sanctions. However, both sides remain committed to the Chabahar Port project.
Interestingly, the comments by spokesperson were made after foreign minister Javad Zarif visited Moscow where he met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and other top leaders. Iran is India’s gateway to not only Afghanistan and Central Asia via Chabahar Port but also Eurasia and Russia via the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC).
Iran and Russia are extending their friendship agreement for another two decades. But Iran’s $400-billion pact with Beijing, which is being negotiated, has generated both anxiety and interest within Iran with sections of the local media warning against a “sellout” to China.
India and Iran will hold their second round of talks this week on PTA as the two sides are exploring to expand their trade basket to include manufacturing, services and light engineering items, ET has gathered.
Several rounds of talks have been held on PTA and based on the outcome of the previous round of talks this February the two sides exchanged the lists of commodity items. The next meeting will be held by July-end, ET has learnt.
source: Economic Times
