Mohsen Jalalpour and President of Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) Dilip G. Piramal met in Tehran to discuss possibility of boosting ties in fields of mutual interests including oil and gas, petrochemical industry, agriculture, and tourism. Mr. Jalalpour believed Iran and India had been trade partners for most of the history and had enjoyed friendly relations; “now, with privatization of part of economy, a new chapter has opened for Iran to transform its incomes from oil to non-oil industries and products; under such situation, government will be required to improve trade with its neighbors as important players contributing to national economy,” he told Indian official.
“Our friends during sanctions will be our important trade partners in post-JCPOA era; I believe our trade volume with such countries will be multiplied; with India, we have plans to raise trade volume and to do so, we will work to make revenue from our natural resources to meet $ 120bn of annual budget, along with raising exports to a lump sum of $ 600bn in a drastic change from oil-based economy,” he detailed. “We have learned some lessons during sanctions, the first of which was that we should interact with the world and have our friends in our side even after sanctions; Iranians and Indians have close cultural ties and historical relations which would provide a base for economic cooperation as well.”
Jalalpour also suggested that India plays even more active role than it did in the past in Iran’s economy; “our cooperation could be focused on agriculture, petrochemical industry, oil and gas, and tourism; India has historically been an attractive destination for Iranians and Iran’s holy shrines would have the same attraction for Indian Shia Muslims,” he proposed.
Mr. Dilip G. Piramal for his part said that Indian delegation had visited Alborz province industrial capacities and that both countries should improve ties; “with four millennial relations in trade, when Indians traded Indian spice with Iranian dried fruit and rose water; both countries enjoy young and active labor force and highly educated university graduates; we suggest improved cooperation in IT, a field playing significant role in Indian GDP, with a $ 110bn share in 2015,” he told the meeting.
“India is home to industries to produce precious stones including refined diamonds; with a population of 1.3bn, India should work to exploit capacities in all sectors to meet increasing demand for budget; to improve financial transactions, we should have open working banking systems as effective communication channels for facilitated financial transactions,” Mr. Piramal added.
SH/PR