'Great scope for increasing Indian exports to Iran'

In the context of Western sanctions, there is scope for increasing Indian exports to Iran if payment and shipping related difficulties are overcome, Additional Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) Yash Sinha said.

He was addressing a bilateral dialogue on 'Developments in West Asia: Indian and Iranian Perspectives' at IDSA.

Noting that Iran continues to be a major supplier of petroleum products to India, Sinha said the reduction of oil imports from Iran was primarily due to market factors and payment-related issues.

The dialogue is a continuation of the long-standing track-II bilateral cooperation arrangement between the IDSA and the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) from Tehran, an IDSA release said.

Sinha referred to Iran as an important source of country's crude imports and a provider of trade routes to Central Asia, Russia and Afghanistan.

He mentioned that bilateral trade between India and Iran registered an increase of 18.76 per cent during the financial year April 2011-March 2012.

On the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Sinha said it remains an important project for India; however, there are pricing and transit security issues that still need to be resolved.

He complimented Iran for successfully completing Phase I of Chahbahar Port and added that Indian firms would look into the phases II and III as an important opportunity for trade and investment.