Publish Date: 22 December 2019 - 13:55

TEHRAN, Dec. 21 (MNA) – India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met and held talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran on Sunday.

The Indian FM, who is in Tehran to attend Iran-India joint economic committee, discussed recent regional affairs as well as international and bilateral relations with Zarif.

Jaishankar’s visit comes days after a US department official said that Washington has provided an exemption to India from sanctions on the Chabahar project which is envisaged to help transport Indian goods to landlocked Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the second meeting of the follow-up committee for the implementation of the trilateral Chabahar Agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan at the level of Joint Secretary/Director-General was held on Friday.

It was in 2003 that India first proposed developing the Chabahar Port seen as a gateway for the country to access the landlocked markets of Afghanistan and Central Asia, as New Delhi’s tense ties with Pakistan blocked overland trade through Pakistan.

Iran, India and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement on the development of Chabahar Port in Tehran in May 2016 to establish a strategic transit and transport route connecting the three countries.

MNA/