Iran's hydrocarbon complement India's energy need: Ansari

Iran's location and its hydrocarbon resources complement India's energy appetite and quest for new markets, Vice-President Hamid Ansari today said.
Inaugurating a seminar on Maulana Abul Kalam Azad by Iran Society, Ansari said the building of an under-sea gas pipeline from southern Iran to the west coast of India is among one of the four areas of cooperation for mutual benefit that are currently said to be on the drawing board.
The other three areas relate to peace, stability and inclusive governance in Afghanistan, operationalisation of the road and possible rail link to Afghanistan through the Iranian port of Chabahar, functioning of the North-South Corridor through Iran to Central Asia and Europe, and a framework for ensuring freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz involving littoral, regional and global powers.

"Each of these would further development objectives of the concerned regional and extra-regional states, enhance confidence, and lessen misgivings emanating from unilateral perceptions of security," the Vice President said.
He said that India's association with Iran runs deep into the past and bears marks of its vicissitudes.
The geo-political impulse remained even after a common border ceased to exist in 1947 with the creation of Pakistan.

"Three specific considerations were reflective of it - Iran's location on the Persian Gulf littoral, Iran being a major source of hydrocarbons and Iran's location on the western borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The concordance or discordance of policy approaches and postures thus became critical elements in strategic thinking," he said.

The bilateral relation of over six decades displays both convergences and drift, Ansari said.
Highlighting the commonalities of national objectives of India and Iran he said both seek rapid economic and technological advancement, seek peace and stability in their neighbourhood and have experienced the scourge of terrorism.