IRAN AND INDIA JOINED FRANCE AND GERMANY OPPOSING WAR ON IRAQ
By an IPS Correspondent.
NEW DELHI, 25 Jan. (IPS) Iran and India jointly declared Saturday they would support international efforts to solve the Iraqi crisis peacefully and at the same time called on Baghdad to adhere to United Nations resolutions.
The joint declaration, released after the first meeting between visiting
Iranian President Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami and the Indian Prime
Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also said combat against international
terrorism must be carried out under the auspices of the United Nations, but
Khatami warned against using terrorism as a pretext for creating an environment
of war.
Indian press saw Mr.Khatami’s statement on terrorism as a "significant gesture of support" to India’s stance on terrorism.
On an official visit to Islamabad last month, Mr. Khatami visibly angered his hosts when he refused to endorse Pakistan’s stance on the disputed Kashmir issue, condemning all "extremists", instead.
"All eyes are looking toward Iraq", Khatami said. "We recommend to Iraq to abide by the U.N. resolutions", he said.
Talking to journalists at a ceremonial welcome by the Indian president, Mr. Khatami expressed hopes that there will be no war against Iraq. "Environment of war has already caused problems for the region", he said, adding: "We want to defend peace, coexistence and security".
Khatami's call for no war was promptly backed by India, saying that the world has been "scarred by terrorists and terrorism".
The United States has threatened to use force against Iraq if it does not comply with U.N. resolutions that require it to disclose any weapons of mass destruction it possesses and cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.
Although Iraqi leader Saddam Hoseyn sent his troops into Iran in 1980, launching an eight-year war that claimed a million lives, Iran believes that the destabilization of a war is worse than living with his regime.
"We hope that there will be no war against Iraq" Khatami said at the joint press conference with the Indian Prime Minister, in an apparent reference to the US build up in the Persian Gulf, repeating that his country opposed "hegemony and unilateralism".
Observers said the joint declaration came on the heel of a serious rift in relations between Washington in the one side, Paris and Berlin on the other, after the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sharply denounced a joint declaration by France and Germany opposing unilateral attack on Iraq.
The two sides also called on the international community to remain committed towards the speedy reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.
Khatami, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday, accompanied by his Foreign Affairs, Defence, Higher Education and Oil ministers as well as an important economic delegation will be the guest of honor at India's Republic Day parade on Sunday, a celebration of the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950.
Khatami and Vajpayee held discussions on a wide range of issues and agreed on a roadmap for strategic cooperation, which provides for development projects to promote trade and investment between the two countries.
"It's a long-term measure. It will take some time to see its significance", Vajpayee said of the agreement, under which India and Iran will jointly develop roads, ports and infrastructure facilities.
Most of the projects are aimed at helping reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan and providing Indian exporters a transit route to Europe via Russia.
They also discussed the feasibilities of a gas pipe line linking Iranian gas fields in the Persian Gulf to the Indian market, via Pakistan, a project India has reservations due to its complicated relations with neighbouring Pakistan and opposition from Washington, that has placed Iran among evil states, alongside North Korea and Iraq.
According to the Iranian Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar-Zanganeh, Iran has capacity to produce 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas per day in the Paris oil field and can provide up to 10 million tons LNG per year.
Officials felt Iran appeared to be taking cognisance of recent explosions at oil installations in Pakistan — which also substantiates New Delhi’s worry about the safe passage of gas through the pipeline route — and it was this that motivated Mr Zanganeh’s offer. "They’ve basically offered to sell us natural gas in the form of LNG which can be shipped" the sources said, according to "The Statesman" of Calcuta.
The two sides signed five other agreements on cooperation in science and technology, manpower training, cultural exchanges and export finance. Under the deal on export finance, India's EXIM Bank will give US$200 million in loans to seven Iranian banks, which will use the money to fund imports from India.
Adequate work has been done by both sides to promote trade and investment and work on a highway that will connect the Gulf to Central Asia and then to Europe.
"Iran has abundance of energy resources and India's need for energy is growing", Vajpayee said, adding that the two sides would continue talks in this area of "mutual interest."
Although not high on the agenda, the defence component is important as Iran, which has an ongoing $ 8-billion military supply agreement with Russia, seeks an increase in Indian help in upgrading equipment of Russian origin, the Times said, explaining the presence in Mr. Khatami’s delegation of Iranian Defence Minister.
India has made meticulous preparations for the landmark visit of the Iranian President, "The Times" of India wrote Saturday.
"By inviting him as chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations, India has made it clear that in its perception, Iran enjoys a position of pre-eminence in the Persian Gulf region", the paper said.
The R-Day honour has gone essentially to heads of major nations or personalities India considers as its special friends. ENDS KHATAMI INDIA VISIT 25103