Iran,India discuss terror emanating from Pak, Afghan
New Delhi: Terrorism emanating from Pakistan and Afghanistan and the danger it poses to the region was discussed by India and Iran here today with both having convergence of view on the need for concerted action against it.
The proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline was also discussed along with a host of other issues like banking and collaboration in infrastructural projects during the talks between external affairs minister SM Krishna and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki here.
Mottaki, whose two-day visit here marked the first high level contact between the two countries since president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in July, also met prime minister Manmohan Singh.
During the delegation-level talks, Krishna and Mottaki exchanged views on the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan and shared concern over terrorism emanating from these countries, of which both India and Iran are victims.
Both sides noted that they have a key role in the peace and stability of the region, sources said.
Both India and Iran are concerned by the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and want it to be dismantled completely. After the Sistan blast, Iran had said its source was in Pakistan.
On Afghanistan too, India and Iran have same views, particularly with regard to the need for curtailing activities of Taliban.
While discussing energy issues, the Indian side flagged its interest in the $7.4 billion IPI pipeline but wanted aspects like security and pricing to be sorted out.
The two sides will be discussing such aspects in detail during the meeting of Joint Working Group on Energy to be convened soon.
Negotiations for the IPI pipeline, also called the 'peace pipeline', have been going on for over four years but the pricing and security of the project have been sticking points.
With India's concerns persisting, Pakistan and Iran have gone ahead and signed an agreement for bilateral pipeline project, saying India can join later. Iran is one of the key sources of energy, particularly crude oil, for India.
The two countries also discussed various other collaborative projects like development of an integrated port-road-rail infrastructure to provide transit access to India from Chabahar to central Asia.
Mottaki, who is undertaking his second visit here since 2006, also called on vice president Hamid Ansari.
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