By IANS
Mumbai : A 25-member trade delegation led by a group of ministers from Iran will Wednesday meet captains of Indian industry here and discuss possible collaboration in the oil and gas sectors.
Vijay Kalantri, president of All India Association of Industries (AIAI), said the delegation will reach Mumbai late Tuesday.
“A high level delegation of Indian oil and gas experts from India had recently visited Iran. This proves that there is tremendous interest in both the countries in the field of oil and gas,” Kalantri said.
Talks on a major gas pipeline project involving Iran, Pakistan and India are in full swing. The $7 billion project is expected to deliver five million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually from Iran over a 25-year period from 2009.
Kalantri added that the two countries had signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in several key sectors, including science and technology, agriculture, tourism, narcotics control, environment protection, posts and telecommunications, information technology, power and energy.
Besides these sectors, the other sectors the Iranian delegation will look into include infrastructure development comprising the building of roads, bridges, highways and railways.
According to Kalantri, there are several bilateral joint working groups on issues such as hydrocarbon, commerce, transportation, agriculture, rural development, industries, culture, technology, consular affairs, drugs, trafficking, power and telecommunications.
The delegation includes the deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, deputy minister for commerce, deputy minister for economic and financial affairs, the head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and International Petrochemical Company president Mohammad H. Rahbari. Accompanying the delegation will be Iranian ambassador to India Nabizadeh.
A seminar on ‘Iran and India Trade Relations – Opportunities and Advantages’ will be inaugurated by Maharashtra Industries Minister Ashok S. Chavan Wednesday. The guests of honour will be Hinduja Group of Companies president G. P. Hinduja and Novartis India Ltd president Ranjit Shahani.
Iran enjoys observer status in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comprising India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives.