16th India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting

On 8-9 July 2010 India and Iran held 16th joint commission meeting in New Delhi. A 30-member delegation of Iran led by Shamseddin Hosseini participated in the meeting. The meeting was co-chaired on the Iranian side by H.E. Dr. Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, of Iran and on the Indian side by External Affairs Minister Shri S.M. Krishna. The meeting of the India-Iran Joint Commission provided an opportunity to review bilateral economic and cultural cooperation.

Agreements  

The following MoUs/Agreements were signed during the Joint Commission Meeting:

1. Air Services Agreement to increase the number of flights between the two countries
2. Exchange of Sentenced Persons
3. MoU on Cooperation in New & Renewable Energy
4. MoU on Cooperation in Small Scale Industry between National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and Iranian Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organisation (ISIPO)
5. Programme of Cooperation on Science &Technology
6. MoU on Cooperation between Central Pulp and Paper Research Institute of India (CPPRI) and Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources (GUASNR). 
 Shamseddin Hosseini, during his Indian visit, inaugurated a business seminar organized by FICCI on ‘Investment Opportunities in Iran’. The business delegation accompanying Dr. Hosseini also held meetings with ASSOCHAM and CII.
Significance of the meeting

• India-Iran Joint Commission meeting will strengthen bilateral relations between India and Iran, especially the long-pending dialogue on energy and trade corridors in Central Asia and greater cooperation and information sharing on counter-terrorism. Besides, the meeting would help remove all barriers in the two-way trade and facilitate the flow of investments.
• Engaging Iran in this kind of joint-commission dialogue can provide India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, apart from serving India’s energy interests. India’s interests in Afghanistan can be safeguarded if India involves Iran along with Afghanistan for trilateral dialogue. India is constructing Zaranj-Delaram road and the Chabar Port in Afghanistan and for that cooperation from Iran would be vital.

In Box

• It was agreed that the 17th Session of the India-Iran Joint Commission would be held in Tehran.

• India imports 12 per cent of its crude petroleum from Iran. 
• India-Iran bilateral trade had increased from 9.3 billion dollars to nearly 15 billion dollars in the last three years. 
• The issue of BIPA (Bilateral    Investment Promotion and Protection   Agreement) and Double Taxation Avoidance agreement was also discussed. If these pacts finalised these will help greater flow of investments and technologies between the two nations and will boost the confidence of the investors. 

• America has cautioned India against any dealing with Iran because of U.N. sanctions on Iran. Recently, 35-year-old Indo-Iranian shipping joint venture, Iran-o-Hind, has already been placed under sanctions in the latest UN Security Council Resolution on Iran.