This will be Abdollahian’s first visit ever to India since taking charge last year. He was expected to visit India earlier this year, but that was postponed as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was diagnosed with Covid. However, since last year, the two had met three times on the side-lines of various multilateral events.
ET has learnt that expanding trade and supplies via Chabahar Port to Afghanistan and Central Asia and Eurasia will be key items on the agenda of the visit. The Afghan situation and dealing with the Taliban will also be on the agenda.
Chabahar Port is of considerable focus for India for connectivity to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have interest in using Chabahar Port to trade with India and seek access to the Indian Ocean Region. The International North South Transport Corridor or INSTC that connects India with Russia via Iran is also getting momentum and may figure during the Iranian FM’s visit. Iran and Russia share close political and security ties.
After operations began at the Chabahar port in December 2018, the port handled more than 8200 TEUs and 1.28 million tonnes of bulk cargo.
Last month both the foreign ministers had telephonic conversation during which Jaishankar invited the Iranian counterpart to visit India. During the conversation, both the ministers discussed the situation in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Ukraine. The volatility in the global energy markets is also expected to figure during Abdollahian’s visit.
The visit occurs in the backdrop of India’s first formal engagement with Taliban and days after India hosted Israeli Defence Minister.