Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a two-day visit to Iran Sunday May 22,2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached Iran for a two-day visit -- his first since taking over office two years ago.

The visit comes four months after the sanctions on Iran were lifted and the international community is re-engaging with the nation.

At the Teheran airport, PM Modi was received by Iran's Finance Minister Ali Tayyebnia

The centerpiece of PM Modi's visit will be the signing of a trilateral agreement on Chabahar -- a strategic port in the Gulf of Oman on Iran's southern coast with Afghanistan.
India will help develop the port, investing in the first phase around $200 million to develop terminals and cargo berths at Chabahar. In the next phase, India plans to build a 500-km railway line between Chabahar and Zahedan.

Ahead of PM Modi's visit, India has cleared part of its $6.4 billion oil dues to Iran. Discussions will also be held on the modalities of payment for the rest.

India is one of the biggest buyers of Iranian crude, and is set to import at least 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Iran

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran

 

 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari at a gurdwara in Iran

 

India, Iran, Afghaistan Sign Trade Corridor Pact

'History is being created,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Tehran Monday May 23,2016 after the signing of a tripartite agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan to turn the Chabahar port into a transit hub bypassing Pakistan.

Prime Minister Narender Modi with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan during agreement signing and press statement after Trilateral meeting at Talar building

India signed a historic three-nation deal on Monday to develop the strategic port of Chabahar in Iran and build a transport-and-trade corridor through Afghanistan that could halve the time and cost of doing business with Europe.
Developing the Chabahar port is seen as crucial for India because it will not only allow New Delhi to bypass Pakistan and access global markets but also counter China’s expanding influence in the Indian Ocean region

Note

India will spend about $500 million (Rs 3,400 crores) to develop the port in southeastern Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province as a regional trade hub that will allow it to open up an alternative land-sea route for trade with Afghanistan.

The three countries have engaged in protracted negotiations since 2003 but the lifting of sanctions on Tehran in January has boosted prospects of the port’s development.

India has already spent Rs 680 crore in building a 220-km highway in Afghanistan that connects to Chabahar

The Exim Bank of India also signed an agreement to provide Rs 1,000 crore credit line to the Iran’s Maritime and Ports Organisation for making jetties and berths at Chabahar.

State-owned construction firm Ircon signed an agreement to lay a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan and Nalco signed a deal to look at the possibility of setting up a 0.5 million tone aluminum smelter at Chabahar free-trade zone, provided Iran gives cheap natural gas.

PM Narendra Modi Gifts Rare 7th-Century Manuscript of Quran to Iran's Supreme Leader

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday May 23,2016 gifted Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei a specially commissioned reproduction of a rare 7th-century manuscript of the Holy Quran attributed to Hazrat Ali, the fourth caliph.

“Written in Kufic script, this manuscript is a prized possession of the ministry of culture’s Rampur Raza Library,” a statement on Narendra Modi's personal website said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also gifted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a specially commissioned reproduction of Mirza Ghalib’s collection of poetry in Persian, “Kulliyat-e-Farsi-e-Ghalib”, as also Sumair Chand’s Persian translation of Ramayana.

“First published in 1863, 'Kulliyat-e-Farsi-e-Ghalib' is a collection of over 11,000 verses by Ghalib,” the website posting reads.

“The reproduction is from a rare copy of the book’s 1867 edition to which some missing pages have been added from a copy of the 1872 edition from Maulana Azad’s personal collection preserved in the library of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in New Delhi.”

It also stated that translated into Persian in 1715 and copied in 1826, Sumair Chand’s Ramayana was a rare manuscript at the ministry of culture’s Rampur Raza Library, and contained over 260 illustrations - possibly the largest number in any hand-written Ramayana manuscript.