NEW DELHI, 21 April 2008 — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit India toward the end of this month. The announcement was made yesterday by National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan during a discussion at International Institute of Strategic Studies-Citi India Global Forum. Ahmadinejad will visit India on his way to Sri Lanka.
The visit will take place at a time when Iran is facing UN sanctions and isolation from several countries. India has always advocated diplomacy toward Iran. “In dealing with Iran, we are better poised and better placed than anyone else, but we do not necessarily have to be part of a compact of certain countries,” Narayanan said.
Citing caution exercised by India in not getting involved into “conflict diplomacy,” Narayanan appealed to the international community: “Please do not treat Iran like any other nation. It is a big country, it is a major country with tremendous influence. You need to deal with it diplomatically.”
Ahmadinejad’s two-day state visit to Colombo begins April 28. He is expected to be in Delhi in the last weekend of April. While in Colombo, the Iranian president will launch a hydropower project in Wellawaya in Monaragala district and sign an agreement for modernizing the Sapugaskanda oil refinery.
This would be Ahmadinejad’s first visit to India. The last Iranian president to visit India was Mohammad Khatami when he was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2003. The last Indian prime minister to visit Teheran was Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2001.
While Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Teheran last year in February, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari was here in September and Iranian Minister of Economy and Finance Davoud Danesh Ja’fari came here in January.
India has diverged from the US-led move to impose sanctions on Iran as in Delhi’s opinion Iran has the right to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy, while fulfilling its international obligations. India favors an institutionalized dialogue with Iran on the issue.
“Sanctions or military action is not a lasting solution. They will only exacerbate the situation. We need to evolve something that involves Iran,” according to Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
Clarifying India’s stand on Iran’s nuclear policy, Menon said: “Ultimately it is whether or not it (Iran) is implementing the obligations it undertook. It depends on technical assessments which are best done by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
Drawing attention to the need for a change in how the world looks at nonproliferation, Menon favored a new international consensus on the issue. As sanctions and military action will only “exacerbate” the situation, “we need to have in place a system to which Iran is party,” Menon said.
Notwithstanding the reservations voiced in various international circles against Iran’s nuclear policy, Indo-Iran ties have continued to progress. Railroad officials of the two countries recently signed a memorandum of understanding. One of its aims is to increase cooperation with International Union of Railways and start work on an India-Iran-Russia railroad.
To give the two countries an insight into each other’s rich heritage and civilization, an Iran Cultural Week will be held here in late April, while an Indian cultural event in Iran has been planned for late May. Organized by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the Iran week will run from April 29 through May 6.
