Tehran, Dec 16, IRNA , Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon conferred on Sunday with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on expansion of relations between the two countries.
According to Information and Public Relations Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the meeting, the India official said India attaches great importance to expansion of ties with Tehran.
Iran and India as two significant and stable countries in the region enjoy friendly and consolidated ties which has led to more stability of the region, he said.
Expressing dissatisfaction with current level of relations between the two countries, he called on the two sides to seize opportunities and take advantage of each other’s capabilities and potential.
The visit of high ranking Indian officials to Tehran would help boost ties between the two countries, he said.
The Iranian foreign minister, for his part, said both Iran and India share common stands on mutual, regional and international issues, adding that Iran is an independent state which makes its own decision on how to establish or continue ties with others.
“We should not let any foreign powers to harm existing ties between the two countries,” he said.
The level of relations between the two countries particularly in the past two years is not satisfactory and should be further upgraded to serve the significant role of both countries in the region, Mottaki said.
Mottaki called on the two sides to take more concrete steps to revive the two countries’ relations and properly take advantage of each other’s capabilities.