By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will host a private dinner Tuesday for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a gesture that seeks to underline warming ties between India and Iran.
“The prime minister will host a private dinner at his 7 Race Course residence for the Iranian president after the talks,” official sources told IANS.
“It’s an important gesture that shows India attaches great importance to developing relations with Iran,” the sources said.
The Iranian president will return to Tehran after the dinner, his last engagement here that will wrap up his whirlwind three-nation tour to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
Ahamdinejad comes here for a brief four-and-a-half hour visit late Tuesday afternoon after a state visit to Sri Lanka – his first trip to India after assuming power in Tehran nearly three years ago.
Manmohan Singh and Ahmadinejad will discuss a host of bilateral, regional and international issues to intensify political, economic and energy ties between the two countries.
The two leaders are expected to give a political push to the $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline that will bring the Iranian gas to India via Pakistan.
Other issues like the intensification of economic ties and regional stability will also figure in discussions between the two leaders.