Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek Thursday to discuss bilateral relations. Mottaki was welcomed at Bishkek airport by his Kyrgyz counterpart Ednan Karabayev. The Iranian minister is scheduled to hold talks with Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Prime Minister Igor Chudinov and Karabayev.He will also meet Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Adakhan Madumarov and Finance Minister and Chairman of Iran-Kyrgyzstan Joint Economic Commission Tajikan Kalimbetova on Friday.
Iran and Kyrgyzstan will sign documents for bolstering bilateral cooperation and a memorandum of understanding on establishment of an Iranian bank in Kyrgyzstan.
The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a visit to Kyrgyzstan in August to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Following Ahmadinejad's visit, Tehran and Bishkek expanded mutual ties. The two sides exchanged political and parliamentary delegations.
Interior Minister Hojatoleslam Mostafa Pourmohemmadi said here Wednesday that Iran is ready to bolster economic cooperation with India and transfer energy to that country.
Pourmohammadi told Indian ambassador to Iran Manbir Singh that Iran and India are determined to expand cooperation and executive officials of the two sides should try to materialize the wish as soon as possible.
He said there are many grounds for expansion of Tehran-New Delhi cooperation in the economic, industrial and tourism sectors, however, the capacities have not yet fully been used, so it is needed to exchange talks to focus on ways for maximum exploitation of the potential.
He also said that Iranian and Indian entrepreneurs are interested in investment in different economic projects.
"We should not let the opportunities get missed. It seems mutual cooperation has been going on to some extent with a slow pace and sluggishly."
He went on to say that ambassadors of both sides play a decisive role in building up mutual cooperation and contact in the field and Iran is ready to absorb investment in energy and transfer it to India. He stressed that Iran is willing to have stronger ties with India in the sector and has a positive approach towards the issue. He hoped that through constant consultations, Iran and India will come up with brilliant results in connection with the issue.
Singh for his part welcomed the Iranian minister's idea for Indian government's investment in Iranian industries and transfer of energy to India.
He pointed to the Asian Union session late March and said based on new agreements, Iran and India will base their exchanges on euro rather than dollar. He said India does not think on any option but Iran in order to have economic ties and expand commercial transactions.
Iran and India are the only good choices for economic, social and cultural cooperation in the region, he added.
Also referring to the visit of Indian industrial and energy delegation to Iran in two weeks, Singh said both countries' economic officials are in serious talks on exchange of experience and more cooperation. It is hoped that the ground would be more prepared for cooperation in the sector thanks to positive moves taken in bilateral ties, he added.
At the beginning of the meeting Singh had called on Pourmohammadi to extend Indians' working permit in Iran.
He said the Indians engaged in Iran are Iranian originally and have accepted Iranian culture and speak in Persian. He also called on Iranian labor ministry to reconsider Indians' employment in Iran and cut the amount of tax on their income.
Furthermore, Singh asked Pourmohammadi to take measures to extend Indians' job license to two to three years from present six months.
Pourmohammadi welcomed the requests and vowed to facilitate Indians' employment in Iran.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency
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