Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif in India for talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has arrived in India’s capital, New Delhi, to hold talks with senior Indian officials on a range of issues.

Zarif was welcomed by Iran’s Ambassador to New Delhi Gholamreza Ansari, Indian Ambassador to Tehran D. P. Srivastava and several other Indian Foreign Ministry officials on Thursday.

During his two-day visit, the Iranian foreign minister will discuss Tehran-New Delhi ties as well as regional and international issues with Indian officials.

Mutual cooperation on energy, ports, transportation and transit of goods are also on the agenda of the talks.

Zarif’s visit comes at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid.

India is among Asia’s major importers of energy and relies on Iran to meet a portion of its energy demands.

Iran was the second-largest supplier of India’s crude before the US-led sanctions were imposed on Tehran about two years ago.

According to reports, New Delhi has significantly increased its oil imports from Iran following the recent partial suspension of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The sanctions relief came after a nuclear deal struck between Iran and the P5+1 group (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in November 2013. The deal took effect on January 20.

India’s imports from Iran doubled in January, surging to 412,000 bpd, up from 189,100 bpd in December.

The figure which is the highest since February 2012 registers a 44 percent rise year on year.

Last month, the Indian ambassador to Iran expressed his country’s willingness to increase and diversify its investment in the Islamic Republic.