Amidst the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, Iran has already said it is ready to help India meet its energy security needs. Reports indicate that the talks are going on between the countries to start importing crude from there and payment mechanisms too are being worked out. Even as the Western powers are in the process of negotiating lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran, Iran, India and Iran already had a barter-like mechanism in place for trade.
In an exclusive interaction with Financial Express Online, Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Iran to India, Dr Ali Chegeni shares updates on various issues with Huma Siddiqui.
Following are excerpts
There have been reports that Iran is planning to initiate the rupee-rial trade method. And there was a team visiting from Tehran to discuss modalities.
Both countries have already built the Rupee-Rial mechanism to facilitate the trade between them. Therefore it is not a new arrangement and we are not strange to this mechanism. In fact, we are trying to diversify our channels of payments and accordingly wish to extend and expand an already existing mechanism in order to cover all of the goods and services including all of non – oil goods and to achieve this, our officials in various levels are in touch.
During the past two years, because of Covid restrictions, we pursue the issue via virtual dialogues and currently our officials including the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Affairs and Iran’s Port and Maritime Organization are following the matter through the exchange of delegations.
Is Iran ready to export crude oil to India? Towards this, have there been any talks between the two countries?
Iran has always been a reliable energy partner to its customers and is ready to resume its normal export of its oil, gas and petrochemical products to international markets. To India, Iran has also been a major exporter of oil until imposition of illegal, brutal and unilateral sanctions.
In the current situation and after the recent events which has had some impacts on oil and gas market, and henceforth the intense increase in oil global prices, countries like India urgently need to diversify the suppliers, and without any doubt, Iran can play a significant role in meeting parts of the needs and requirements of the global market.
It is worth noting that the exportation of Iran oil has never been disrupted and we are still selling our oil to the customers. More importantly, current oil supply shortages make Iran oil even more indispensable than before. Indian companies either from the public or private sectors are also fully aware of Iran’s capacities and readiness in this respect and of course, it is upon them to take forward the necessary steps.
We want to develop our economic and trade relations beyond energy and petrochemical products. Since due to the complementarity of Iran and India economies, an extensive range of non – oil trade exists between two sides including trade on goods and services, investment, tourism, education and … which may pave the way for multiplying our economic relations ten times more than current relations in mid and long terms.
It’s worth noting that Iran as an old friend of India never participated in any sanction against it and accordingly the reasonable, least expectation of Iranian people is to see the same act from their Indian friends.
What is the update on Chabahar Port and the Railway line that was under discussion with India?
Let me begin by answering the second part of your question. More than 70 percent of the Chabahar – Zahedan railway has been finished and is ready for utilization. The remaining part has still been advanced by Iran authorities and certainly it will be completed soon with or without the other’s participation. However we would rather terminate this project with the close association of our Indian friends particularly in developing superstructure equipment.
On Chabahar Port, first of all, I should underline the great extent of the recent developments as such we cannot view Chabahar solely as a port and it is better to name it a “zone” in order to consider its vastness and the great facilities embedded in it.
Moreover Chabahar port is not limited to itself and indeed it is a small but of course important part of INSTC which connects Caucasus, Eurasia, central Asia and south Asia landlocked countries to the Indian Ocean. Regarding this, various countries have announced their readiness to cooperate with Iran in developing this project and in fact Iran has begun its collaboration with several countries like Russia and Azerbaijan.
Two grand ports of Chabahar, meaning Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari have been operationalized and IPGL Company of India is installing some superstructures in Shahid Beheshti dockyard and ships actually use both ports to load and unload their convoys. In this regard we have witnessed the significant multiplication of transportation capacities during the last 3 years. By these potentials and capabilities we are sure Chabahar will be much more active and operational than before.
Recently the Indian Government appointed a new active team for IPGL in Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar that is a good signal to promote the activities and quality of services for said company in its functions.
Despite these great achievements, both countries’ leaders expect us to speed up our efforts and hence we must accelerate our activities to end the project as fast as possible, particularly in an urgent situation in which we witness rapid regional and global changes.
For instance the credit line which has been pledged by India for financing Chabahar related projects has not been fully realized yet. Naturally By preparation of the mentioned infrastructure in near future, Indian friends can contribute in developing the railroad by supplying the required superstructure equipment.
In this regard, the exchange visits of different officials and high ranking delegations of the two countries will be a great opportunity to find ways to accelerate the process of cooperation as well as to promote the use of this “golden gateway“ for both countries and the region.
In the health and pharma sector are there any plans to seek cooperation with India?
The precedence of our co-operations dates back to ancient times when we had a great exchange of ideas and science on traditional medicine. Currently we are expecting to sign two important MoUs on cooperation on the health sector in the coming weeks. One of these documents is focused on the cooperation in the field of traditional medicines between the research centers of two countries and the other one is related to cooperation in normal medicine between the drug standard authorities and relevant regulatory bodies of both countries which will pave the way to remove some non- tariff barriers in the medicinal trade.
Narcotics transited to India via ports in Iran –this was recently discussed in New Delhi. Can you share how Iran plans to address this issue?
Iran has been and still is at the forefront of combating drug trafficking in West and Southwest Asia. On the other hand Iran has been unfortunately one of the main victims of this dirty and illegal business and it has dedicated too many martyrs and incurred huge costs in its sacred fight against the international smugglers. But unfortunately some media disregard Iran’s important role and sacrifices in fighting against narco- trafficking and instead, disseminate distorted reports and baseless allegations.
However I must underline that drug trafficking knows no nationality and no boundary and the traffickers may use any territory and direction to smuggle their narcotics.
Having said that and noting that drug trafficking as a global issue requires joint and collective efforts, it is necessary to address this phenomena through a genuine cooperation and sincere partnership among all forces in the region. The traffickers attach no respect to humanity, nor to the national territories or their victim countries.
The anti-narcotics police forces in both India and Iran have made enormous sacrifices. They have also initiated a commendable dialogue and cooperation which we expect to form a solid base for a deeper dialogue and cooperation in the regional level soon.
Recently Iran and India have held very successful meetings. Both sides agree on the main issues and we will witness more consistent and consolidated cooperation in fighting against this dirty phenomenon.